


The Fury In Your Head

by partnerintime



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, F/F, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, both bae and bay survive, chloe goes off her medication, max's powers are gone mysteriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9447074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partnerintime/pseuds/partnerintime
Summary: "All those moments between us, from pirate forts to midnight swims at Blackwell, those were real and they meant something."What happens when the person you choose to save wishes you didn't? When Max tore up her photo of the blue butterfly to save Chloe and sacrifice Arcadia Bay, Max was ready to face the consequences of saving her best friend over everyone else, but once the photo is ripped the storm clears up. At first, Max considers this to be a miracle, but as the days go on, it becomes clear that Chloe was ready to sacrifice herself. This story follows Max and Chloe as they try to figure out what their lives are going to be now, after the events of the game while their feelings for each other have to fight to been seen amidst the traumaAlternate ending for LiS, where both the people of Arcadia Bay and Chloe live, but surprise surprise, there's consequences to every action. Hella angst, hella pricefield, hella happy ending.





	1. The Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter One:  
> Clementine by Sarah Jaffe for Max  
> Dead! by MCR for Chloe
> 
> I want to make this fic have some of the same feelings you get from playing the game, so I'm gonna be picking songs for Chloe and Max each chapter, songs I think would either fit in with the established soundtrack or just songs that really go with the characters.

“Okay, so you’re not the goddamn time master but you’re Maxine Caulfield and you’re amazing,” Chloe said, desperate and angry.

 A moment passed between them. A second too long as they both realized what their options were.

 “Max,” Chloe said. “This is the only way.”  She handed Max a photograph, the one of the blue butterfly, taken that first day. They didn’t know it then, but the best friends had been reunited for the first time in years.

“I feel like I took this shot a thousand years ago,” Max said, as tears welled up in both Max and Chloe’s eyes.

“You could use that photo,” Chloe said, sounding desperate for the chance to get her words out. “You could use that photo to change everything right back to when you took that picture. All that would take is for me to...” Chloe trailed off for a few seconds, seeming not to want to say the obvious but also not wanting to lose what composure she had left.

“Fuck that,” Max said, angry. She knew what Chloe meant and didn’t want any part of it. “No way,  you are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me,” Max said, honestly.

 “I know.” Chloe said, letting herself break finally. “You proved that over and over again, even though I don’t deserve it. I’m so selfish. Not like my mom, look what she had to give up and live through. And she did. She deserves so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner.

“Even my stepfather deserves her alive,” Chloe spit out. Max knew how hard it was for her to say anything complimentary about her stepfather, but now was the time. “There’s so many more people in Arcadia bay who deserve to live way more than me.”

“Don’t say that,” Max said. “I won’t trade you.”

“You’re not trading me,” Chloe said, angrily. “Maybe you’ve just been delaying my real destiny. Look at how many time I’ve almost died or actually died around you. Look at what’s happened in Arcadia Bay ever since you first saved me. I know I’ve been selfish but for once… I think I should accept my fate. Our fate.”

“Chloe,” Max said, protesting in a single word.

“Max, you finally came back to me this week and you did nothing but show me your love and friendship. You made me smile and laugh like I haven’t done in years.”

Max could feel herself getting physically angry at what Chloe was saying. She wanted to hit something or someone, but mostly she just wanted Chloe to stop talking like this.

 “Wherever I end up after this, in whatever reality...All those moments between us were real and they’ll always be ours.” Chloe said, still going on dramatically in such a manner that continued angering Max.

 “Chloe,” She started, sounding like a mother scolding a child for being naive. “I am not leaving you.”

 “Max, we can’t pretend like we don’t know where this going to go. Where this… will end.” Chloe said, sobbing hard and letting the tears blend in with the heavy rain that continued to soak them both.

 “No,” Max said, remembering who had the power. Max took the photograph,  ripped it half and let the wind take it away.

 Chloe’s eyes got wide.

 “I’m not leaving you again, Chloe,” Max growled, daring the universe to make her a liar.  

 Chloe’s mouth moved like her lips wanted to form words but the breath in her lungs just couldn’t. Max was getting ready to say something but they were both distracted by the dissipation of clouds.

The lighting suddenly stopped illuminating the sky and the thunder that shook the ground underneath them ceased.

Both the girls were silent for a long time as they watched the clouds disappear and the sun come back out.

Max reached out behind her to find Chloe’s hand. She held on tightly to Chloe’s limp hand.

“I don’t understand,” Chloe finally said.

“The storm...” Max said. “It’s gone. Chloe, the storm is gone!” Max said, excitedly.

“I don’t understand,” Chloe repeated, shaking off Max’s hand and stepping even closer to the ledge to get a better view of the town. The clouds had left the sky in a sunset, beautiful orange and reds shining down on a down that only slightly mauled by the tornado.

 “Chloe, watch out,” Max said, noticing how close to the edge Chloe was.

“I have to go check on my mom,” Chloe said, turning around and bursting into a sprint. Max followed after her, nowhere near as fast as Chloe, but still wanting to keep up.

“Ah, fuck!” Chloe exclaimed.

 “Oh my god, Chloe,” Max said, finally catching up with her. A giant tree branch had fallen and sliced Chloe’s leg, through her ripped jeans and into skin.

  _I promised I would never rewind on Chloe unless her life depended on it, but that wound looks pretty worth it._ Max thought. Max raised her hand to rewind but nothing was happening.

 _What the fuck is going on?_ Max felt like her mind had hit a wall and there was no way to get around it, no light to try find the edge. She tried again and failed, the panic rising in her throat. Chloe at this point was stripping off her jacket and wrapping it around her leg.

Max decided to let the rewind thing go for the moment to check up on her friend. “Chloe, are you okay?”

“I’m super, Max, I need to get back to the truck.” She attempted to fully stand and walk again, but she went too fast or too hard and hit the mud. “Fuck,” Chloe said.

“Here, Chloe,” Max said, extending her hand to Chloe. Max pulled Chloe up and wrapped her arm around her shoulders for support.

“Did you wrap your leg plenty tight?” Max asked.

“It’s fine, Max." Chloe said, frustrated. 

When they finally reached the bottom of the hill, Chloe tried to get into the driver's seat.

"No way, Chloe, give me the keys." Max said. Chloe handed them over, still seeming dazed.

 Once they were both secure in the truck, Max started thinking out loud.

"I don't know what could have happened, Chlo. I mean, maybe it's the universe's way of thanking me for deciding not to fuck with time for once."

Chloe sat next to her trying aimlessly to get someone on the phone. Max guessed she was calling the diner.

"I'm sure the phones are out." Max said, softly. 

"Max, what if it was too late? What if everyone is already dead? You'd have to rewind." Chloe said. Max's throat closed up at the idea. 

"I don't think everyone's going to be dead. When I was looking for you, it seemed like pretty much everyone had bunkered down."

"But you don't know that Max. Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Chloe asked, as Max took a turn. 

"We're going to the hospital." Max said, trying to keep stead. 

"I don't need the fucking hospital, Max, I need to go check on my Mom. I'll never forgive myself if she isn't okay." Chloe said. 

"Your leg is seriously messed up. Joyce would want you to take care of yourself before looking for her." Max said, trying to reason with Chloe. 

"Fuck what she wants, turn back to the main road." Chloe demanded in a voice that Max had never heard before. It scarred Max so she turned around. Was Chloe seriously angry with her for saving her life? She couldn't be. She must just be worried sick about her mom. Well, if it was her mother she wanted, it was what Chloe was going to get. Max floored the truck, not having to consider any other drivers since all the roads were dead empty.

When they arrived at the diner, Chloe burst out and started walking as fast as her leg would allow.

"Mom!" Chloe started calling, not seeming to notice her surroundings. Lots of trees had fallen and most windows broken. Two Whales had mostly remained in tack, apart from main window that had broken completely. 

Chloe threw herself through what used to be one of the windows. 

"Chloe?" Joyce asked, coming out of the girl's bathroom. It looked like several other people were held up in the bathroom. Max saw Warren Graham behind Joyce, sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest, as well as Frank Bowers. Everyone looked up when Chloe and Max entered. 

Chloe said nothing but walked over to her mother and hugged her.

“Oh, Chloe, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Joyce gushed, not letting Chloe out of arm's reach. Before Chloe could say anything more, her mom asked her what happened to her leg.

 “It’s fine, Mom, don’t worry about it.” Chloe said, softly.

“No, Chloe, it is not fine, just about your entire leg is covered in blood and look at your face, we need to get you to a hospital.” Chloe’s face was covered in tiny scratches from the fall, nothing really compared to her leg, but still concerning. Her once blue hair was covered in mud, making it a dull color for once.

 By this time, everyone who had been hiding out in the bathroom had come out to see what was going on. The sun was out, and starting to set and everyone reacted like they were seeing god.

"Whoa, Max! Would you look at that!" Warren said, coming out of the bathroom, startling Max. She wasn't quite ready to be reunited with the excitable geek. 

"Is everyone okay?" Max asked, rather than addressing anyone specifically. Max got a couple yeahs and a couple nos but there wasn't really time to follow up since Max offered to drive Joyce and Chloe to hospital, just so she wouldn’t have to witness everyone’s happiness. The happiness that Max was willing to sacrifice just to save Chloe.

“Why didn’t you take her straight to the hospital, Max?” Joyce scolded.

“She wouldn’t let me,” Max said sheepishly.

"Okay, then, let me grab some clean bandages first." Joyce said, walked over to behind the counter, grabbed the entirety of the first aid kit. 

"You can wrap her in the car," Max said.  _We need to get on the road. Now._ Max thought impatiently. 

"Okay, let's go," Joyce said. Max took drove them to hospital, driving as fast as she could without noticing her surroundings. From what she couldn’t block out, it looked like the town had suffered major damage, that there were lots of people scattered outside. "I could drive you both now, though." 

When they got to the hospital, they noticed it had remained pretty much intact, apart from a few broken windows caused by debris.  Chloe was seen immediately and given twenty stitches. Luckily no major arteries had been opened, but apparently it was still going to take her some time to get back to normal use.  _I wish I could have just rewound. It would have saved Chloe so much pain and what looks like is gonna be a pretty nasty scar._

While Chloe was being seen Max wandered out into the waiting room.

“Excuse me?” Max asked, getting the attention of the nurse who had just helped Chloe. “Just out of curiosity, do you know how many people have come in, affected by the storm?” Max asked.

_Calm down Max, no one is ever going to suspect that you might behind the storm._

“We’ve only had a couple dozen so far, mostly cases like your friend. Nothing that can’t heal.” The nurse said.

“Anything fatal?” Max couldn’t help but ask, she had to know. 

“What, do you work for your school paper or something?” The nurse scoffed and walked away.  Max went back to Chloe then, who looked pissed she wasn’t allowed to leave yet.

“It’s a miracle the hospital wasn’t hit by the storm,” Joyce said, somehow sadly. “It’s going to take a while for Two Whales to get back up and running. I can’t imagine how the insurance companies are going to handle rebuilding half the town.”

Both Chloe and Max said nothing. The relief of finding Joyce and the others alive had worn off and now they were wondering what kind of life they had waiting for them. Max looked up when she heard Chloe sigh.

She wanted to run over to Chloe and hug her and tell her how fucking sorry she was that she left and how much she wanted to start their new lives together, as pirates reunited. But Chloe seemed strangely unreachable. It wasn't just that Joyce was there, but something else. 

 _Give her time. Considering what you two just went through, Chloe's got all the excuses not to be her usual happy-go-lucky-yet-sarcastic-as-hell-punk_ Max tried telling herself to keep from worrying. 

Max noticed then that her chest felt like it was being weighed down, making it hard to breath while panic flooded every part of her body. She was light headed but in an unfamiliar way. 

"Max, honey, are you okay?" Joyce asked, putting a hand on Max's shoulder.  Max couldn't speak and the next thing she knew, her legs had folded under her and Joyce was screaming for a doctor. 

 


	2. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter Two  
> Don't Wait Up by Robert DeLong for Max  
> Blindness by Metric for Chloe

“Are you sure?” Joyce asked the doctor, whose name Max didn’t happen to catch.

“Completely sure. Max is suffering from a panic attack. I believe she just experienced the peak of it, which caused her body to collapse. It must have started about fifteen minutes ago but her body repressed it and didn't allow her mind to understand the reaction her body was having. ” She wrote something on her clipboard. “You seem to be coming back to us. Max?”

“Hmm?” Max asked, looking up at the doctor, from lying down on a cot exactly like the one Chloe has just been sitting on.

“Max, it seemed like you had been having a panic attack and your body had been suppressing it. It overcame you and you hit your head on your way down. You were only out for about a minute though. How do you feel?” She asked, putting her stethoscope on Max’s back.

“I feel okay.” Max said hesitantly.

“Your heart rate seems to stabilized as well as your breathing. Have you ever experienced a panic attack before today?”

 _Not recently_ “No,” Max lied.

“It’s not uncommon for situations like this to bring up things like this,”

Flashes of Jefferson and the Dark Room and the nightmare flooded Max’s mind. She went to clench her fists at the memories, but found her right hand squeezing Chloe’s. 

“Oh, sorry, Maxi-pad.” Chloe said quietly and letting go. “You scared me for a second there,” She said, louder.

“It’s okay.” Max said, crossing her arms and taking her hand back.

Once both Max and Chloe were cleared to leave, it was night time. Everything seemed normal, no double moons or surprise snowfall. If Max hadn’t been here this last week, she would thought everything had always been this peaceful.

“Oh, who could that possibly be?” Joyce asked, annoyed at her own phone, which was ringing and interrupting the faux peace. 

“At least the phone lines are back up,” Max said, while keeping her eyes on the road.

“Hello?’ Joyce asked. “Oh, David.” Joyce said sounding relieved. “Yes I’m with the girls.” and then a couple minutes later, “I’ll let them know.”

“What is it, Mom?” Chloe asked, speaking for the first time in a couple minutes.

“David got your text, Max. Mark Jefferson is in police custody and they have all the evidence from the barn. They need both of you to come in and make statements.”

“Do we have to do this tonight?” Chloe asked, sounding tired.

“We wouldn’t have to see him again, would we?” Max asked, staring straight ahead at the road, unsure of how exactly to get to the police station.

“It sounded like it was pretty urgent, Chloe. And no, Max. I’m sure you won’t have to see him again.”

“How much did David tell you?” Max asked, hating the idea of going over everything again, just to make sure everyone was on the same page. Max wasn’t even sure what timeline she was in. How much of what she was remembering going to make sense to anyone apart from Chloe? The only person who knows about her rewind powers.

“He told me Mark Jefferson was arresting for the kidnapping and drugging of several young girls. He said he was going away for a long time.”

“What about Nathan?” Max asked, avoiding the obvious.

“Nathan Prescott?” Joyce asked.

“He was working with Jefferson.” Max managed to get out. She wasn’t sure yet if Jefferson had managed to get to Nathan or if the cops had gotten there before he could. It was too late now and god knows she wasn’t going to sweat going back to save Nathan Prescott, no matter how self aware he seemed in that voicemail… Chloe would never forgive her. If Nathan was dead, it was probably for the better. Max was honestly worried about Chloe going after him if he wasn’t dead.

“You girls can tell the police everything once we get to the station. You know where it is, right Max?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it before.” Being behind the wheel of Chloe’s truck made Max feel like an impostor. _Chloe should be the only person who tries to control this beast._

When they arrived at the police station, David was standing inside talking to some officers. Max caught Chloe scowling out of the corner of her eye.

 _I guess that sympathy for David didn’t last long_ Max thought, sadly.

As soon as David saw Joyce, he broke whatever conversation he was having and hugged her. To the surprise of Chloe and Max, Joyce hugged him back. Chloe made a gagging sound. 

“Chloe, Max,” David addressed the girls. His gaze lingered on Chloe like there was so much he wanted to say but he knew that now clearly wasn’t the time. “This is Officer Berry.”

“We’ve met.” Max and Chloe both said at the same time. When Chloe and Max were younger, they had a great talent for saying the exact same thing at the exact same time, but instead of saying jinkes, they just accepted it as a normal part of everyday life. It happened too much for them to make a big deal out of it every single time. But this was the first time it’s happened since they’ve been back in action. Max noticed it and looked at Chloe, but Chloe was too busy staring Officer Berry. He couldn’t have been anymore than an inch taller than Chloe, so she stared him dead in the eye without hesitance.

Max remembered running into Officer Berry at the Two Whales but she could only guess where Chloe remembered him from.

“I’d like to speak to you girls individually, if you don’t mind.” Berry said.

“Why not at the same time?” Chloe asked, at someone’s throat once again.

“It’s protocol, Price.” Berry replied, with almost the same level of immaturity.

“I can go first,” Max offered.

“Fine by me.” Berry said and then started walking away. Max followed them and left the family behind, hoping someone would make Chloe sit down insteading of letting her sulk around on her leg.

Officer Berry led Max to a room looked more like she was being interrogated than filling in some blanks.

A wave of new anxiety hit Max in chest, _How the hell am I supposed to get through this without the mention of time travel?_

“Let me start out on an easy question, Max,” Berry said. “When did you start suspecting Mark Jefferson?”

 

“I didn’t really suspect him at first… I just knew someone was kidnapping and drugging girls and I wanted to find out who was behind it.”

“How did you know that?”

“My friend Kate. She was one of the victims.” Max managed to get out without picturing too clearly Kate’s photos.

“What led you to Jefferson?”

 _Time to tell the truth, Caulfield_ “Nathan Prescott.” Max decided that they could either believe or not. Maybe the Prescotts owned this town but they weren’t going to be able to sweep this under the rug.

“Nathan?”

“Nathan was Jefferson’s assistance. He got the drugs and he was the one that dosed Kate and Chloe. He accidentally killed Rachel Amber with an overdose  and buried her in the junkyard.Chloe and I found her body.”  

_There it is. The big kabang._

“Why didn’t you call the police?” Officer Berry asked, stunned at everything he was hearing.

“We found her yesterday.” _Or was it earlier today. Fuck Max. You’ve really screwed with yourself this time. You can’t even remember when you found Rachel Amber._ “We were receiving threats from Nathan that he was going to get rid of the evidence. We didn’t know if that included us. Plus, everything with that storm, you know.” Max brushed it off, like it was years ago and not mere hours.

“How did you suspect Nathan?”

“My friend told me he was the one that drugged her. We followed him right to Jefferson.” Max hated how she sounded like one of the scooby gang, explaining how they solved the mystery.

Officer Berry asked Max a couple more questions about the timeline of events and Max tried to be as honest and accurate as possible, but even if she messed a few things up, she figured shock could be held accountable for anything.

“Are we done here?” Max heard Chloe ask loudly.

“Yes, Price. For now.” Another Officer said.

“Am I free to go? I’m very tired and just want to go home,” Max said, letting her voice crack on the end.

“You may leave.” Berry said. “I need to talk to Mrs.Price and Madsen before you leave though.”

When Max was reunited with Chloe, she was sitting down and Joyce was scolding her not cooperating as well as she could have.

“Rachel’s dead, Mom.” Chloe interrupted, cold and angry.

“How-” Joyce said, stunned.

“Nathan fucking Prescott killed her and I found her.” Chloe said, yelling at this point. “Mom, I found her body.” Chloe said, still sounding in shock. A flood of tears were rushing down Chloe’s cheek and suddenly it was hard for Max not to join in.

“I’m so sorry, Chloe.” Joyce said, sitting down next to Chloe and hugging her. Max looked away from the scene, unable to hold her own tears back at this time.

“M’am?” Berry asked. He had just come back from conferring with the officer that had interviewed Chloe. “I wanted to let you both know that we’ve put an arrest warrant out for Nathan Presccot and we’ve sent a team to the junkyard to find Rachel Amber, if she is still there. The police department of Arcadia wants to make it clear that we are behind both of you fully.”

Max looked down at Chloe and for a moment, enjoyed the calm before the storm.

When Chloe looked up from the ground,  her eyes were red and furious.

“You let her die! You let all them get drugged and all because you’ve all been bought by the mother fucking Prescotts! You are responsible for the kidnapping and the abuse and the death!” Chloe was standing then, but barely. “You fucking cops were too fucking busy busting me for graffiti and weed to notice what the fuck was actually going on!

Neither Joyce nor David attempted to stop Chloe. Everyone in the room knew she was right.

“Nobody believed me when I said something was wrong!” Chloe screamed at no one in particular. “Not even her parents,” Chloe sobbed. “but I knew. I want to go home, now,” Chloe said.

“Chloe, we might not have a home to go home to,” Joyce said gently.

“You live over near the junkyard?” Officer Berry asked.

“North of it,” David answered.

“According to reports, the storm only hit that side of town lightly. Now, downtown is another story. Reports are coming in that a lot of Blackwell academy was destroyed and won’t be up and running again for at least a couple weeks.”

“Great,” Max said, empty.

“Max, you’ll stay with us as long as you need to.” Joyce said, not looking for a yes but simply stating that that was how it was going to be.

“I need to call my parents.” Max, said dumbly.

“Here,” Joyce handed Max her cell phone.

They picked up first ring. “Mom, I’m okay. I’m with Chloe and her mom. I know...I’m okay...I’m gonna crash with them until they get Blackwall up and running again...What?..No, absolutely not. I’m not coming back. Tell Dad I'll be okay. I'll call you tomorrow." Max hung up the phone

“Max?” Joyce asked.

“They want me to come back.” Max said, like it meant nothing to her.

“You’re not going to go?” David asked. “If you were my kid, after something like this,  I’d want you under my roof.”  

“Well, I’m eighteen. I’m more than allowed to make my own decisions.” Max stated firmly.

“Max, you have a point,” Joyce said. “Let’s go home, girls.”

Joyce offered to drive home, so Max could take a break, but in the window seat, next to Chloe who was resting her head on her Mom’s shoulder, Max had nothing to do but try to call people.

_Blackwell destroyed? How many people are hurt or worse?_

Using Joyce’s phone, Max was able to call the hospital Kate was staying at. She wasn’t able to get through to Kate but she did hear that no one specifically had been hurt on the premises. Everyone else would have to wait till morning. Kate was okay. Warren was okay, and most importantly, Chloe was okay. Max just hoped that they were able to wake up to the news that Nathan had been found, dead or alive.

It took Joyce a while to be able to get to the house. Several trees had fallen and blocked the usual path to their home. When they got the house, it was apparent that no house on the street had electricity.  

Once they got inside the house, Joyce was able to find the flashlights and emergency candles.

“Chloe?” Joyce asked softly. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to sleep. I just want to sleep and forget this ever happened.” Chloe whispered.

“Sleep sounds nice.” Max managed to get out. It was hard to think about anything ever being nice again.

“We’ll tackle this in the morning, okay?” Joyce asked, sniffling a bit. “I’ll make you girls the best breakfast you’ve ever had.” Joyce kissed Chloe on the forehead and then went to hug Max, “Take care of her, Max,” Joyce whispered in Max’s ear, since Chloe had already started up the stairs.

“Here, take these,” Joyce said, giving Max a flashlight and a few candles.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Joyce.” Max said, trying to hold back tears and failing for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Max didn’t want to leave Chloe alone for too long, so she hurried up the stairs.

Max knocked on Chloe’s door, not wanting to interrupt her changing or anything.

“Yeah?” Chloe called from inside the room.

“It’s Max,”

“It’s open.”

When Max walked in, she could barely make out the outline of Chloe’s body. She seemed the be digging through the clothes on her floor. Max turned the flashlight towards Chloe then, found her in her jeans and bra.

“Hey, point that thing over towards to the stereo, will you?” Chloe whispered. Max did as she was asked while placing the candles down on Chloe’s desk.

“You can find something in my drawers. I think I have some shorts in there or something. Definitely some clean t-shirts in the closet.” Chloe said, mechanically.

“Okay,” Max said, “Here’s the flashlight,” She handed it to Chloe so she could continue searching for whatever it was she was looking for.

Max grabbed blindly, not really caring about what she putting on. Facing away from Chloe, she stripped her clothes off and put the new ones on, too big and too loose but somehow comforting.

Max looked around Chloe’s desk to find a lighter. She found a light blue one and used it to light the candles.

“Is there anything you’re looking for specifically, Chloe?” Max asked, cautiously, like Chloe was a dog that could bite at any second. “Maybe I could help you find it..”

“I’m just looking for a specific pair of sweatpants. They’re black and have flames up the side and-” Chloe said.

Max went to the closet, and pulled the sweatpants off the hanger. “Here,” Max said.

“How did you know? Did you rewind or some-” Chloe asked, confused.

“I remembered them from the other day. They were with the rest of her clothes.” Max cut her off.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Max said.

“Grab me a t-shirt?” Chloe asked, stripping her jeans off and putting the pants on. Max went back to closet happy to be doing something, picked an over-sized t-shirt off it’s hanger and tossed it over to Chloe.

Chloe in turn tossed her bra in the general direction of the hamper and went to get something out from under her bed. Max worried for a moment that she would be getting the lock box, full of memories with Rachel but instead she pulled out a bottle of vodka.

“You’re not gonna make me drink alone, are you?” Chloe asked, sadly.

“Chloe, I’ve never… I’ve never had more than a beer.” Max stammered, but the sight of Chloe, made her want to chug anything that was going to make her hurt less. “Can we at least clean you up first?” Max asked, trying to make this some kind of deal.

“Yeah,” Chloe said as she led the way to bathroom, still carrying the flashlight. In the bathroom room, Chloe took out a washcloth and attempted the turn the sink on.

“Fuck, no power.” Chloe said. “I’ll be right back.” Chloe said, leaving the bathroom, running down stairs and then returning with a bottle of water.

“Here, let me do it,” Max said. You can shine the light on your face.”

Chloe handed her the bottle of water then and directed the light at the side of her face, where the mud had dried onto her skin and hair.

Max opened the bottle of water and poured a generous amount onto the washcloth. While she was wiping away the mud, she noticed how tired Chloe looked and how sunken in her eyes were. The bags under her eyes had reached a new level of purple and Max couldn’t help but wonder, _Do I look this fucked up too?_

When they were done in the bathroom, the pair went back to Chloe’s room.

Chloe sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her, inviting Max to sit next to her. Once Max was sitting down, Chloe picked up the bottle from where she had left it on the floor.

“It’s easier if you don’t think about how bad it’s gonna taste,” Chloe joked, darkly. Max wasn’t sure if Chloe said it only for her benefit, because when Chloe took her first swig, her face wrinkled up like a baby tasting a lemon for the first time.

Max took the bottle from Chloe then, figured nothing could be worse than what they’ve already gone through and took a big gulp, which led to some of it leaking out and soaking her chin and shirt.

“Damn, Mad Max. Didn’t know you had it in you,” Chloe said again, in that same tone of voice as earlier. It was like she was sad but wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to let you see.

Chloe took the bottle back again, and like she was threatened by Max or something, managed to chug almost a fourth of the bottle at once.

“Maybe we should stop, Chloe.” Max said.

Chloe laughed then, loud and obnoxious. “You’re probably right, Mad Max. You’re probably from the future, having seen me gone to the hospital to get my stomach pumped or some shit, right Max?”

“I thought you said you wanted to sleep.” Max said, avoiding the accusation. Chloe not knowing about her current lapse of powers made Max feel really strange. She didn't want to admit this to herself but she knew she was worried Chloe wouldn’t want her around anymore if she wasn't so super.

“I do and I am,” Chloe mumbled. “See,” Chloe said, putting the cap back on the bottle and shoving it under the bed.

“Okay.” Max said, and after a moment of silence she added, “Goodnight, Chloe,”

“Goodnight Super-Max,” Chloe drunkenly replied, as they both got under the covers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe people are actually reading this? and leaving kudos n shit wow. I legit did not think anyone was gonna be interested in this. hey we are all about to be on a crazy ride


	3. Rachel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 3  
> Tenenbaum by The Paper Kites for Max  
> Chains by Torres for Chloe

Early the next morning, the girls were woken up by the sounds of heavy machinery.  

“Shut the fuck up,” Chloe grumbled into her pillow while Max got out of bed to look out the window to see the what the commotion was.

“Oh,” Max said. “People are cleaning up the fallen trees.”

“Could they do it later?” Chloe asked, still grumbling.

“Do you hear that?” Max asking, listening closely.

“How can you hear anything over the noise?” Chloe asked.

“I think Joyce has the TV on,” Max said. “Come on, Chloe, let’s go down stairs.” Max grabbed Chloe hand and pulled her up out of bed.

Max all but ran down stairs to see what was going on.

“Oh, good morning, Max,” Joyce said, when Max almost bumped into her.

“The power’s back on already?” Max asked, surprised . The smell of waffles and bacon filled the air with the noise of the news.

“Surprisingly. Apparently people worked through the night. Why don’t you have a seat and see for yourself?” She gestured towards the TV.

Max found her way to her to the couch and sat down, but sadly they were no longer covering the damage done by the storm.

“Good morning, Chloe.” Max heard Joyce say from behind her, but she was too involved in what was on the TV.

“-was found trying to flee the state on interstate 101. After a long chase, Prescott was finally brought into police custody, where he was arrested for the murder of Rachel Amber, who had gone missing several months ago and was found buried in Arcadia Bay’s junkyard late last night. The body was ID’ed in the earlier hours of this morning by Rachel’s parents. They ask that you respect their privacy in this time of grievance.” The news castor’s face faded into the infamous photo of Rachel, the one Chloe had plastered all over town. 

“Mom, did we miss any calls from Rachel’s parents?” Chloe asked, who was now standing behind Max watching the TV.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so.” Joyce said. Chloe said nothing.

“I’m sure they will call,” Max said.

“They better, “ Chloe said. Max wandered into the kitchen while Chloe threw herself on the couch.

“I don’t know if anyone has ever explained this to you, Max, but Rachel Amber’s parents are very wealthy.” Joyce said in a hushed toned, as she flipped bacon.

“Like the Prescotts?” Max asked, leaning against the counter. 

“Oh, no dear. Nowhere near that rich, but still, Rachel grew up with a lot more than Chloe. So when Rachel first went missing, Chloe went to them and begged them to hire a PI, knowing they could more than afford it. They refused and, well, you know what happened after that. No one believed Chloe that Rachel was actually missing. That girl always seemed like the type to go wherever the wind took her. I just-, I never expected something so horrible to happen to her,” Joyce said, tearing up again.

“Joyce, nobody blames you,” Max said, trying to be comforting.

“I just wish I had been able to be there for Chloe when she needed me,” Joyce said, as she plated up the food. 

“Well, you can be now,” Max said.

"Max, we have errands to run," Chloe said loudly enough to be heard from the living room. 

“You’re gonna eat breakfast first,” Joyce called from in the kitchen.

“Right,” Chloe said, softer than before. “We’ll leave after breakfast.”

“Might I ask where we’re going?” Max interjected.

“We’re going to over to Rachel’s parents’ house to get answers.”

“What answers could they possibly have?” Max asked, taking a seat at the table as Joyce placed the plates down.

“I want to know when the fucking funeral is gonna be.” Chloe took a big bite of waffles then.

...

“Keep up, Caulfield,” Chloe said a few minutes later, finishing the last of her eggs. Chloe had always been a much faster eater than Max.

_Oh Chloe, always anxious to get going. I remember when we were kids and she would rush us through dinner so we could go back to building forts._

“Maybe you could take a shower while you wait for me?” Max suggested.

“I'm choosing not to take offence to that, Maxine.” Max decided to let the usage of her full name go for now.  Chloe went to the showers pretty quickly though, like she was worried if she stuck around for too long, Max would call her out.

“This is a great breakfast, Joyce.”

“Max, you’ve always been so complimentary,’ Joyce said. “Look after her for me, will you?”

“Always.”

...

A little while later, Chloe and Max were pulling up to a McMansion on the better side of town about an hour from Chloe’s house. But even these houses weren’t free from the damage of the storm.

Rachel’s house had suffered several broken windows and it looked like part of the roof had sunken in. 

“They might not be here, Chlo,” Max said.

“Well, that’s both of their cars,” Chloe said. She tilted her chin up towards a pair of SUVs. Chloe parked on the street and jumped out of her truck. This morning Chloe had put another pair of her ripped and faded jeans, but this time instead of a white tank top under a jacket, she wore a tight fitting long-sleeved t-shirt under the same jacket. Max had to borrow something of Chloe's this morning, deciding it was probably a bad idea to wear Rachel's clothes to her parent's house. Max had thrifted a pair of black jeans and a tan sweater that didn't fit quite right. 

“Should I stay in the truck?” Max called out to Chloe who was running up to the door.

“Fuck no, Max. Get your ass up here, I need back up,” Chloe said.

Max got out then and ran up the steps to meet Chloe on the porch. Chloe then took her fist and pounded on the door.

_Doorbell not aggressive enough for you, Price?_

A couple seconds later they were greeted by a short woman, whom Max assumed to be Rachel’s mother. She could definitely see the similarities between this woman’s face and the face that was put all over town. She looked like she had been crying non stop for the last six hours but behind the puffiness and hunched over posture and loss, you could tell she was a beautiful woman.

“Olivia,” Chloe addressed her.

“What are you doing here, Chloe?” Olivia asked. “And who the hell is this?”

“She’s my backup.” Chloe said shortly. “I wanted to know if you ever intended to call or let me know when the funeral would be.” Every word coming out of Chloe’s mouth was laced with poison. It made Max think that even Chloe must not be fully processing what she was saying, for it would have poisoned her too.

“I have half a mind not to invite you, Chloe. You were never anything but a bad influence on Rachel,” Olivia said.

_Is this what we came here for? So two mourning people could abuse each other?”_

“And I have half a mind to tell you all the horrible things your precious daughter did when you weren’t looking,” Chloe shot back.

Max decided then to interrupt. “Hey, Chloe, we didn’t come here so you could abuse Rachel’s mother? Did we?”

“I came here to get answers.” Chloe repeated.

“What do you want, Chloe?” Olivia  asked again.

“I didn’t come here to beg,” Chloe began. “Or make you feel bad. You can probably feel bad enough on your own. I mean, you practically killed your own daughter by restricting her so much she felt the need to do things like do drugs and sleep with the people who sold them to her.” 

"Get the hell off my property," Oliva threatened. 

“I'm sorry, that was the wrong thing to say. I know you blame me too. It's easier than blaming yourself. Can't you see I'm just in the same boat? Oliva, I need to go to her funeral. It’s the least you do. Rachel would have wanted me there,” Chloe said, sounding so composed. 

“Is your number the same?” Olivia asked, quietly.

“Yeah,” Chloe said.

“I’ll call you when I have all the details. We haven’t even...started planning.”

The three of them stood in something of an awkward silence for seemed like forever when Olivia said, “I have some old things of Rachel’s. I’m sure she would have wanted you to have them.” Olivia went to get them before Chloe could even say she would take them.

When she returned, she was holding a large cardboard box.

“I just can't stand looking at them anymore," She said, shoving the box into Chloe's arms. 

“Okay…” Chloe said.

“I should get back to making arrangements…” Olivia said.

“I guess I’ll see you at the funeral then,” Chloe said. "I'm sorry for your loss, Olivia." 

Olivia nodded and then shut the door.

“Help me with this crap?” Chloe asked.

….

On the way back to Chloe's, while Chloe drove, Max decided to settle somethings with her mother, who was no longer settling for Max's, 'We need to talk later'.

Max: Mom, I just need you to send me my winter clothes early

Vanessa: Max, honey, that town doesn’t seem safe. I think you should join us back in Seattle. Your father and I miss you

Max: You don’t understand. I’m not leaving Chloe

Vanessa: You said this Rachel Amber was Chloe’s best friend?

Max: Something to that extent

Max: Either way, I’m staying here

Max: Would you please just send my clothes? I have a funeral I have to go to. I need my black dress.

Vanessa: Consider it in the mail

_Thank goodness,_ Max thought. _I like borrowing Chloe's clothes sometimes but not when it's my only option and everything is a size or two too big on me._  

Max felt a little bad about being so short with her mom, but she had enough to deal with without adding on the pressure of having zero clothes of her own. A couple hours ago Max had gotten an email from Blackwell saying that they would be scavenging what they could from the rubble and offering it for reclaiming and as of currently, they have no funds to begin rebuilding.

Most of the kids in Max’s class had chosen to enroll in another high school in the area, but Max was pretty sure she wanted to wait a while and maybe just test for her GED or something. It felt too weird to her to be going back to highschool anytime soon, so she choose to stay with Chloe. Another decision that thrilled her parents. But Max wasn’t thinking of them at the moment. 

When they finally got back to Chloe’s house,  Chloe turned the news back on.

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Max asked, helping Chloe set the box of Rachel’s things down on the table.

“What could the news possibly say that could be any more upsetting than anything else we’ve been through?” Chloe asked, kicking her boots off.

“I don’t know, but do we need anymore of it in our lives?”

“I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do here, Max. I can’t move on, so I don’t know why I wouldn’t let it consume me. I have absolutely nothing left to do. Rachel was my life and I know you don’t understand because you weren’t here, but she saved me. So when she went missing I could at least dedicate my life to looking for her and missing her and worrying about her but now’s there’s nothing left to do.”

“There is at least one thing left to do,” Max said, gesturing towards the box. "I can't believe her mom just gave you all this stuff." 

"I can, it looks like everything in here belongs to the part of the Rachel that her mother never liked."

The box contained tattoo gel, several CDs, body jewelry, a bunch of band shirts and some unknown pills.

“I made all these for her,” Chloe said, holding a couple of the CDs. 

_It’s strong of Chloe not to break down from seeing all this old stuff,_ Max thought. _But maybe there’s just nothing left to cry out_

“You were a good friend, Chloe."

“Ha, no, I wasn’t. That’s the worst part,” Chloe said. “I always wanted Rachel to be something that she wasn’t. I wanted her to like my stupid punk music even though she always said she was Top Forty.”

“You loved her, though,” Max said, trying to find some positivity to put on the situation. “And she loved you.”

  
“It was never really enough though. Rachel and I had a connection but no matter what I did, she was always the one who had a place in the world outside of us. I was always the one who needed her more.”

“I’m sorry, Chloe.”

“I loved her so much, Max. She was my best friend. I thought she was gonna be it for me. I tried for so long to convince her that we could be it for each other. Now I just feel like a fucking idiot.”

“What do you mean by ‘it’, Chloe?”

“Soulmates, Max. I thought she was gonna be my soulmate.” Chloe sniffled something back and then without Max asking, Chloe started to share more. “Rachel always loved getting drunk and hooking up. During the day we were best friends and at night, we always acted like it was more. It took me a while to realize she was separating the two. She ended up telling me that no matter what feelings she had for me, she would never be completely satisfied with me.”

“So, she was an asshole straight girl?” Max asked, beginning to get mad.

“She never made it seem like that was the problem. We actually did try for a while, the dating thing. I came on too strong, too soon.” Tears were now full on streaming down Chloe’s face but her voice made no indication of the crying. “I loved her so much, Max. I didn’t know what to do, I was so happy. She made me so happy. That was the first time since my dad died that I felt completely as ease, was when she said she’d try to be my girlfriend

“That’s such fresh bullshit, Chloe. ‘Try’? She said she’d try? You deserve so much more than that.”

“I don’t know, Max, it was her first time being with another girl. She made it seem like she just needed time to get used to it. We broke up a little while later, a few weeks before she went missing.” Chloe said. “Fuck, it’s like I can’t look back at anything in my life without feeling like a complete dumbass who should have known better.”

“You're not a dumbass, Chloe,” Max said.

“No, I am. How many people have to leave before I can stop believing people when they say they’ll stick around?”

“I’m sorry, Chloe.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“No, it does,” Max said. “I’m sorry your life has been in a downward spiral since I left.”

“Did you ever stop to think if I wanted this life?” Chloe asked. 

“Chloe, I wasn’t going to lose you again," Max said surprised at where this was going. 

Chloe laughed once, harshly. “You were the one who chose to lose me. The fucked up thing is that I was actually ready. I was ready to be the one who did the leaving this time, but you chose a life for me I never wanted.”

“You can’t be saying this to me now,” Max said, looking Chloe over.

“What? Should I have told you right there on the cliff that I wanted to sacrifice myself? What would have Magic Max done then? Felt more of an urge to save poor Chloe? Yeah right, well Max you can stop trying to save me now. I don’t even think someone with rewind powers could keep me from myself.”

“I am never going to stop looking out for you,” Max said, letting tears fall without trying to hold them back.

“Did you ever stop and consider whether or not you actually care about me? Or is it out of habit now? Or is it because you feel so goddamn guilty for leaving me all those years ago? You’d have thought I’d land on my feet and you’d come back to find me well adjusted with tons of friends and maybe a serious boyfriend by now or something.”  Chloe laughed again at that last comment.

Max wanted so badly to be able to say something, the right thing, but everything seemed wrong. 

_So this is what it feels like to watch someone slip away from you_

Max didn’t know what else she could say, and she was terrified for the answer but she had to know, “I don’t understand. Do you want me to leave and go back to Seattle?”

That seemed to surprise Chloe, which Max was grateful for. Anything to stop her from saying anything else.

“Let me put it this way, don’t stick around if the only reason you’re here is because you feel bad for me and want to be my pity friend,” Chloe said after a few months of thinking.

“That’s not how I feel and you should know that.”

“Yeah okay, so you care about me. But not the way I want to be cared for,” Chloe said.

“Tell me how to do it the right way,” Max demanded. “Chloe, I fucked up but I want to be a good friend to you,”

Chloe thought for a moment and then finally said, “Well, you can start by reading this and telling me anything I should know,” Chloe handed Max Rachel’s journal. “I can’t read it because I knew her, but you can.”

“I, I don’t know if Rachel would be okay with that, Chloe.”

“It doesn’t really matter what Rachel would want anymore, Max. I need to know for sure if she was sleeping with Jefferson and Frank and I need to know what she really thought of me. Whether or not I was just a toy."

“What if what’s in the diary only hurts you?” Max asked.

“Then it’s pain I need to feel," Chloe said finally. 


	4. The Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter four  
> Luna by the Mountain Goats for Max  
> All I Wanted by Paramore for Chloe

 That night, instead of sleeping in Chloe’s room, Max set up in the living room. One, because she didn’t want smother Chloe, and two, she needed to read Rachel’s journal in privacy. If Chloe were sitting next to her all night long, who knows how long Chloe would be able to resist reading it for herself?

Even though Max still wasn’t completely on board with Chloe’s plan, she had to admit it was better than Chloe reading it.

_Maybe I’ll get the chance to try and sugar coat anything that sounds too bad...No Max, Chloe wants the truth_

The journal went from last October to April 20, two days before Rachel went missing. Max was personally more than ready to put this nightmare to rest, but in order for Chloe to do that, she needed to know everything. Max was terrified to know everything.

Rachel’s journal started out pretty standard for a teenager. She complained about her parents, gushed over guys and expressed general worry for her future but was still overall hopeful about her dreams coming true.

At the beginning of the journal Chloe wasn’t really mentioned at length. She was hardly mentioned at all actually, just in passing. For example, ‘The guys and I hung out today, Chloe tagged along.”

It wasn’t until around early March that Rachel actually said something significant about Chloe.

It was the only sentence of that entry and it read, ‘Sometimes I worry about Chloe Price.’

 _What would have prompted Rachel to write that? Why didn’t she explain what she meant? Maybe even then she knew her journal wouldn’t always be just hers_ Max thought.

After that entry, things slowly started going downhill.  Rachel mentioned Frank more and more. It mad Max angry.

 _Why wasn’t Chloe ever worth talking about this much?_ Max wondered. She wanted to set the journal on fire right then and there but she had to get to the end, just to see if there was anything more specific.

Max stayed up all night reading, without any great conclusion, only being able to get to the end of March. She finally passed out on the couch around one am and was woken back up around three when Chloe finally got home. Max didn’t want to ask where she had decided to go earlier, since Max thought it would be good for the two of them to have some space apart.

When Chloe did come in though, Max could faintly hear her swear. “Aw, fuck, Max. Nobody said you had to sleep on the couch.”

Max managed to grumble a response out.

“You wanna come to bed or are you too passed out to understand anything that I’m saying right now?”

Max didn’t reply and Chloe took that as her being too sleepy to move, so she left Max down stairs while we to bed. 

As Chloe got tucked under her covers, she felt bad about not inviting Max out with her. All she did was sit at the lighthouse and blaze for a couple hours while feeling sorry for herself. She wouldn’t have been much company, but still.

The next morning Max woke up from falling on the floor.

“Ugh fuck,”Max said, tearing Rachel’s journal off of her face.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” Chloe said from the chair that sat in the living room.

“What time is it?” Max asked.

“Ten after eleven. Someone was tired,” Chloe said, placing her newspaper down.

“Shit, I did not mean to sleep that late. What time did you get up?”

“A while ago,” Chloe said. “Have you seen this?” Chloe walked over to Max and sat on the floor next to her. Max quickly closed Rachel’s journal.

Chloe handed Max the paper.

“What the fuck?” Max asked, reading. The front page headline read, ‘Prescott family to pay for all damage done by recent storms’ Below that was a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Prescott, holding hands in front of the mayor.  

“That’s what I said when I first saw it.”

“How are you so calm?”

“I’ve had a while to absorb it. Also, you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you with any fits of fury. But now that you’re up maybe we can rage together,” Chloe said sarcastically.

“The only reason they’re doing this is to distract from what Nathan did,” Max said, ignoring Chloe's offer. 

“I’m aware,” Chloe said.

“There’s no way they would have shoveled out this much cash to fix the town otherwise. They basically already own Arcadia as it is.” Max said, letting her grip on the paper turn into white knuckle fists.

“Well, after the repairs are done, there will be no basically about it. They’ll be so busy ignoring what their bastard son did by sticking their nose into businesses they have no right to.”

“Where’s Joyce?” Max asked then, realizing she was nowhere to be found.

“The motel David’s staying at,” Chloe said, anger coming back to her voice in a more noticeable way.

“What is she doing there?”

“Apparently she’s ‘sorting things out’ with him. The only problem is I don’t know if they’re discussing when he should come get his shit out of our house or when he can move back in,” Chloe said, running a hand through her hair.

“I’m sorry, Chloe.”

“Oh, and Rachel’s mom’s called. The funeral is tomorrow morning.”

“Seems a little fast,” Max said, trying not to sound like a broken record with the sorrys.

“Apparently they’re ready to be done with it,” Chloe said blandly.

“Are you feeling okay, Chloe?” Max asked, concerned.

“I’m great. Why?”

“You seem to be taking all of this pretty well.”

“I may have taken one of David’s guns out to the junkyard.”

“Chloe!” Max exclaimed, appalled.

“Relax, I came back alive, didn’t I?”  Max stood up then, wanting to be taller than Chloe for just a moment.

“Do you have idea what I’ve gone through this last week to keep you alive? And then you go off and do something like that? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

At first, Max saw the most rage she’d ever seen in someone’s eyes in Chloe’s just then. But as Max shrunk back into herself, so did Chloe. As Max began to lose to courage to make eye contact, Chloe lost the heat that had begun boiling inside.

When Max was finally able to lift her gaze from the ground back to Chloe, who was still sitting on the floor. She looked blank.

“I don’t know, Max,” Chloe said, empty.

Max sunk back to floor then. “I can’t lose you,” Max whispered.

“I said the same thing about Rachel,” Chloe replied. “But look what happened to that.”

 

…

 

The day of Rachel’s funeral, Chloe and Max both found themselves having minor breakdowns about what the fuck they were supposed to wear. As fake as it was for them to be acting like they gave a genuine shit about what they were supposed to wear, it felt nice to be able to worry about something trivial for once.

“Fuck this,” Chloe said, throwing yet another option into the ‘no’ pile.

Max was sprawled out on the ground looking through the clothes that had arrived in the mail the day before. The collection was smaller than she remembered it being. Blackwell had hosted their ‘come get your salvageable shit’ party yesterday. Max went briefly to look through what they had and was able to get some of her books and valuables but they had all the clothing in giant piles and bins and Max didn’t cherish any of her clothes to try and find them. It was too much being in the same space as all her former classmates.

_I promised Dana and Warren and Alyssa that I would text them sometime later this week. I feel bad about not being able to communicate now but I’ve got enough on my plate. At least Kate’s dad is flying in to be with Kate the last few days of her stay at the hospital._

“I remember this dress being longer and less revealing,” Max said, putting on the dress she had planned on wearing.

“Whoa,” Chloe said, looking over at Max.

“I feel like a stuffed intestine,” Max said.

“You look like a prostitute. Not to say that’s a bad thing.”  

“Thanks, Chloe,” Max said, rolling her eyes. “Can you get the zipper? I think it’s caught itself on my skin.”

Chloe walked over to Max and started tugging on her zipper.

“It won’t give,” Chloe said, frustrated.

“Well, I’m going to need back my ability to breath soon.”

“Fuck it,” Chloe said, “How much do you care about this dress? She asked, picking up a pair of scissors.

“Cut it,” Max said.

After a minutes of ripping fabric, Max was free. “I feel like I just hulked out and those are the remains,” She said, looking at the pile of what used to be a dress.

“Oh, Max. You’d never be the type to hulk out.” Chloe said. “I’m usually not the ‘I have nothing to wear’ type girl, but I think this might be the exception. Is it bad that I don’t want to go at all?”

“No, I think that’s a normal thing to feel sometimes.”

“It’s just, crying in front of you and my mom is one thing, but crying along with a bunch of other people who are claiming to love her like I loved her… It might be too much, Max.”

“I’m not going to tell you should go. We could always just show up fashionably late in our blue jeans and graphic tees,” Max said.

Chloe thought for a moment and then decided, “I think I have to go,”

“I’ll be there with you,” Max said.

“Like Rachel was there for me when you were gone.”

“Yeah.”

 

…

In the end, it was ultimately decided that they should mostly not give a fuck about what they were going to wear. They both dressed in dark colors, per the usual, but neither of them looked clean or polished.

“I’m sure we’re gonna fuck up Olivia’s aesthetic of only wealthy sad people,” Chloe said, putting the same black jacket on that she wore every day, only today she also wore a black t-shirt and a black jeans.

“Does Rachel have a lot of family?” Max asked hesitantly, while putting on a pair of heels she hated. With the heels, Max had decided on dark grey shirt and dark red sweater, not having any black clothing or anything more formal.

“Tons. All rich.”

When they got downstairs, they were both a little disappointed in Joyce, who had actually managed to clean up well. It was the first time in a while that Max could remember her letting her hair down and wearing something other than the waitress uniform. She might actually fit in with the wealth.

On the ride to the funeral home, nobody chose to talk about their mornings and for that, everyone was thankful.

“God, I hope nobody from blackwell shows up,” Chloe said once they were almost there.

“I hadn’t even thought about that yet. We don’t have to listen anyone if we don’t want to,” Max said.

“You ready to stop me if I go after someone?” Chloe asked, holding back tears.

_Not in the way you’re thinking, Chloe_

"Of course," Max said anyway. She felt the overwhelming feeling of anxiety rush over her again. She had managed to ignore the lose of her powers for the better part of the last two days, but it was so hard when Chloe brought them up all the time.

 _You're gonna have to tell her eventually, you can't just keep letting her do reckless things thinking you're gonna be able rewind if things go badly. I'll tell her today. Or maybe tomorrow since the funeral is today and I don't want to dump too much on her at once._ Max sighed.  _No, you need to tell her as soon as possible. There will always be a reason not to confess_

_..._

When they finally get to the church, the three of them walk in side by side. 

At the door, they're greeted by a clean cut douchebag looking guy in a plain black suit. 

"Name?" He asks. 

"Price and Friends," Chloe replies. The man takes a seconds and looks at his list and then says, "Okay, anywhere but the first four rows."

"Wow, what star treatment for Rachel Amber's best friend," Chloe said loudly.

"Chloe," Joyce scolded. 

"Relax, Mother. We're gonna sit in the back."

"Are you sure you don't want to sit closer?" Max asked, but the two of them were interrupted before Chloe had the time to answer. 

"What the hell do you mean I'm not allowed in?" An angry voice asked. Almost everyone in the church turned to see Frank Bowers in his usual drug seller get up, yelling at the funeral bouncer. 

Max and Chloe slowly turned their heads back towards the front, hoping he wouldn't notice them. Thankfully he didn't. He left after a a few minutes arguing. Chloe thought that maybe he had the brains to realize all this was going to be a waste of time. 

Chloe knew that everything everyone was going to say here today was going to be bullshit or coming from a place of bullshit. They mention Rachel's beauty? They never saw her the way Chloe did. Someone brings up how caring Rachel is? They never saw the nights she stayed up with Chloe, literally saving her from herself. 

So she tuned it out. Chloe stared straight ahead towards the front of the room, where the wooden box that now held Rachel Amber rested. 

There was one speaker that Chloe couldn't ignore, though. Her name was Molly Brown and she was introduced as Rachel's best friend. The name and the face felt familiar for so long before Chloe could actually place her. She was Rachel's best friend before Chloe came around. 

From what Rachel told Chloe, Rachel and Molly's relationship turned into something more like siblings as Chloe and Rachel grew closer as friends. Rachel told Chloe about how Molly's parents were friends with her parents, so she still had to see her every major holiday. 

At first, she went on like everyone else did. She painted a two dimensional image of Rachel, an image almost everyone here was ready to cry over. But then something changed. It looked and felt like Molly was going off her script. 

"It really surprised me when Rachel got her tattoos," Molly said suddenly, like she was still having trouble processing it. "It was so unlike anything she had ever wanted to do.  I have a feeling a lot you can empathize with that feeling. I don't think there's a single person in this room Rachel never surprised. Sometimes it felt like that was how she wanted it. To be known by everyone and no one at the same time," 

And that was what broke Chloe, the realization that she wasn't the only one that thought she knew Rachel perfectly. Maybe, Chloe reasoned, that out of everyone, the Rachel Chloe got was the closest to the real Rachel anyone ever got to see, but it still wasn't everything, it wasn't the truth. 

Chloe didn't wait for the reason of the service to be over. Instead, she left her seat and expected Max and Joyce to follow along.

Things were quiet on the way home. The kind of quiet that means waiting and waiting for something specific. In this case, the girls were waiting for the moment that they could speak freely about such things as time travel and the content of a dead girl's journal. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm uploading this and it's one thirty am and there's probably gonna be some editing that goes on tomorrow morning but i hope this is cool and if you're reading you enjoy it. thanks to everyone leaving comments and kudos, it means a lot. feel free to keep it up. also, let me know if there's anyone out there actually listening to the songs i pick for each chapter lmao


	5. Bon Iver & Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter 5  
> Cold Cold Cold by Cage the Elephant for Max  
> Holocene by Bon Iver for Chloe

When they got back from the funeral, Chloe and Max found themselves upstairs. Chloe, smoking a joint and Max being unable to excuse herself from the room this time. 

Max actually thought the smell of marijuana was nice and would have thought it smelled comforting if not for the illegal aspect.  

"Max?" Chloe asked. 

"Yeah?" 

"You haven't' found anything significant in her journal yet, have you?" Chloe asked, her eyes getting glossy again. 

"I haven't," Max said, unsure of whether or not she was lying. Max opened her mouth to tell Chloe what's been happening with her rewind powers but Chloe spoke first, saving Max from having to. 

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Chloe said, lying back on her bed. 

“Did what?” Max asked from Chloe’s desk. 

“Went to her funeral,” Chloe said, inhaling. 

“I’m sorry, Chloe.” 

“Would you turn some music on? I can’t stand my own thoughts right now.” 

Max walked over to the Hi-Fi. “Any requests?” Max asked. 

“Something quiet,” Chloe said. 

Finding something soft in Chloe’s music collection was no easy task, but after a while Max was able to find a mix CD entitled, “Bon Iver & friends”. Max put the disk and then went to sit next to Chloe. 

An old Fray song started and Max was surprised by Chloe. 

“I didn’t realize you liked indie rock,you punk,” Max said, trying to lighten the mood. 

Chloe shrugged, sitting up. “Genres are a construct,” She mumbled with the joint hanging out of the corner of her mouth. 

“The only thing that really matters to me is if the emotions are there,” Max said. “Although, I will admit I have a preference for softer sounding music.” 

Chloe said nothing but took the joint out of her mouth and offered it wordlessly to Max.

Max’s first instinct was to say no, but then it occurred to her to question that instinct. Plus, Chloe looked so desperate for someone to not reject her. Max took the joint from her then and hesitantly held it up to her mouth. 

“You don’t have to do that, Max,” Chloe said, trying to hide her surprise while also hiding her need for Max to not back out. 

“You just suck in, right?” Max asked. Chloe nodded and then Max inhaled. Max remembered something about how you hold it in as long as possible, but that just resulted in Max having a coughing fit.

Chloe started laughing almost immediately. She took the joint from Max, inhaled and leaned down to get Max the bottle of water that was sitting on the floor. She handed it to Max and Max gulped it down, while Chloe laughed. 

“I wasn’t expecting it to burn that much,” Max said, once she had finally stopped. 

“They don’t call it ‘burning’ for no reason,” 

“Stop smiling like that,” Max playfully protested. She didn’t give half a shit about what was making Chloe smile, at least she was smiling. But the fake protesting only made Chloe smile wider.

“I can’t, you’re too precious,” Chloe mocked. 

“I want to try again,” Max said. 

“Knock yourself out,” Chloe said handing it back to Max. This time she had a much more careful expression on her face. She inhaled and quickly exhaled but managed to get off without coughing. 

“Impressive, Max.” 

“When am I gonna start to feel it?” Max asked. 

Chloe laughed again then, but it was back to being cynical. “You won’t.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked frustrated. 

“Well, first timers don’t usually feel anything and you only took two hits to begin with.” 

“Oh,” Max said, disappointed. 

“We’ll get you high soon enough, young grasshopper,” Chloe said. “You’re more than welcome to help me finish this one off though,”

“Do you think Joyce is gonna notice?” Max asked, suddenly worried about facing something like what happened the first day she reunited with Chloe. When David hit Chloe because she didn't step in... 

“No, I think she said she had plans to go see David again.” 

At the thought of that, Max took the joint from Chloe and took a huge hit. She handed it to Chloe while still holding it in. 

“Damn, Max. You’re hardcore.” Chloe said taking a hit. Max breathed out then, coughed only a little bit and then inhaled clean air. 

The two of them passed it back and forth for a bit. “I want to take these clothes off,” Max said, looking down at her ‘formal’ clothes from earlier in the day. 

Max stood up and began to strip while simultaneously digging through her small box of clothes. 

“Why don’t I have anything comfortable?” Max asked, seeming dazed. 

“You can borrow something if you want,” Chloe offered. Max turned around to face Chloe, wearing only her underwear. 

“No, I’m sick of this, ‘I don’t have anything of my own to wear.’ bullshit. I’m gonna call my mom and ask her to transfer some money into my bank account and then we’re gonna go shopping,” Max stated. 

“Well, I think you text her,” Chloe said, pursing her lips, looking like she was trying not to laugh. 

“Why?” Max asked. 

“Because you look and sound high as fuck,” Chloe said laughing. 

“I thought you said it wasn’t going to affect me!” Truthfully, Max hadn’t noticed anything until Chloe said something, but now that she had mentioned it, Max was feeling a little lighter than usual. 

“That’s just most people.” 

“I’m gonna text my mom,” Max said, taking her phone out. 

“Maybe I should help,” Chloe suggested.  

“Okay. How about you text her while I get dressed?” Max handed Chloe her phone then. 

Max put some weird combination of Chloe’s pajamas and her own winter clothes on while Chloe wrote. 

“Okay what do you think of this?” Chloe asked, showing Max the phone.

“That’s cool, send it,” Max said without really reading it. Her skin was feeling some new kind of way on her bones and that was too distracting at the moment. 

“Sent,” Chloe said, tossing the phone on the bed to get changed herself. She didn’t want to be stuck in these clothes any longer. Following Max’s lead, Chloe put on sweatpants on and a t-shirt. 

Chloe started rummaging around her room for something. 

“What are you looking for?” Max asked. 

“Some cash. You can’t be the only one getting new threads today,” Chloe said. 

Max’s phone buzzed then. The message read, ‘$200 has been transferred to your bank account via Ryan Caulfield.’ 

Max held up the phone for Chloe to see. “I’m buying today.”  

“Your dad wants to know when it would be a good time for them to come down,” Chloe said. 

“What?”

Chloe scrolled to the notification below to the bank statement and showed it to Max. 

“Oh,” Max said. She quickly texted him back saying she would get back to them tonight with an answer. 

“Okay, before we leave, I’m gonna need to subject you to decontamination,” Chloe said. 

Max was confused until Chloe busted out a can of air freshener.  “Close your eyes and plug your nose. You’re about to smell like the inside of a new car.” 

Chloe thoroughly sprayed Max, getting her from every angle. 

“Okay now, you do me,” Chloe instructed. 

“I don’t remember you ever smelling like, ‘Linen Breeze’,” Max said, reading the bottle. 

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really care that much about smelling like weed before today. But now that you’re involved, I think it’s a good idea, now more than ever not to get caught.” As Chloe said that, the sun shined in through her American flag and hit Chloe in the exact right place. Max's breath caught in her throat.  It made Chloe's faded blue hair shine and her eyelashes cast faint shadows on her cheek. 

“You ready to leave, Max?” Chloe asked, picking up her wallet from her desk and slipping it into her pocket. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Max asked, looking away from Chloe’s hair to meet her eyes. 

“You ready to hit the road, Jack?” Chloe asked again. 

“Oh, yeah, totally," Max said, coming back down to reality. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you know that if every hit on this work were a dollar I'd have more money than chloe price has ever saved up in her entire life not including the handicapped fund she stole/did not steal? wow


	6. Babe Magnet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 6  
> Bloom by The Paper Kites for Max  
> Autoclave by the Mountain Goats for Chloe

 

Max’s head was sticking out the car window like a dog’s and Chloe had to resist the urge to howl with laughter.

“Can we get food?” Max asked, popping back inside the car a moment. 

“Someone has the munchies," Chloe mumbled.  "We can stop somewhere after we get off the highway,” Chloe said. The two of them were driving out of town to the next town over to hit their Goodwill. They had left a note to Joyce telling her that they had decided to get out of town for a couple hours, but that they would be back in time for dinner. 

“So,” Max started. She was finding more and more that Stoned Max was more fearless than Max usual was. “Do you want me to try and distract you from what we did this morning? Or we can talk about Rachel.” 

“Let’s not do that,” Chloe said, cooly. “Distraction would be nice,” She added. 

“Okay. I’ve nevered stalked your facebook or anything, but what kinds of jobs have you had while I was away?” Max asked. “I’ve worked at the library and of course had a few odd babysitting jobs.”

Chloe smiled again, but it was another one of those smiles that looked like it was supposed to foreshadow her saying something either really sad or self depreciating.   “Who said I have to have a job?”

“Chloe, I know Joyce did not buy you that sleeve," Max said, meaning 

“I sold weed for a while. For Frank,” Chloe said, still with that off smile on her face.

“Oh.”

“What were you expecting? That I delivered pizza or something?” Chloe asked, letting the harshness show. 

“I don’t know,” Max said, thinking. “It’s hard for me to imagine anything you did while I was away.”

“I wish I could say that I wondered about you everyday, Max, but I didn’t. After I met Rachel, it was easy to forget you were still out there. So, I get what you mean.”

“I never fully forgot,” Max said. 

“Neither did I.” 

“I never accepted it either. Before I got my letter from Blackwell, I was still feeling guilty about what happened. I never forgave myself for what I did to you, Chloe.”

“I had,” Chloe said. “Or at least I thought I had until Rachel left. I thought I was over Max Caulfield, once and for all. I think that was part of Rachel’s charm. She made me forget you, at least for a little while. Anyway, it’s still weird for me to think about you having friends back in Seattle,” Chloe said. 

“Friends who haven’t reached out since the thing with Jefferson happened,” Max said quietly. 

Chloe snorted out a laugh then.“I’m sorry, Max. I don’t mean to a bigger asshole than I have the right to, but it’s been a few days. Come to me when it’s been years.”

“Yeah, I know.” Max said. “Do you believe me when I say I’m sorry?”’

“Sometimes,” Chloe said. 

The two were silent then until they got to the Goodwill. It felt like the kind of silence Max was going to have to get used to.  The outing that was meant to be a fun distraction was turning out to be more of a sad reminder of everything Max and Chloe had been through.

_ All those moments between us, from pirate forts to midnight swims at Blackwell, those were real and they meant something.  _  Max told herself. _  She’s still your Chloe, you can get her back.   _

“Max, you want a cart?” Chloe asked, once they entered the store. 

“Yeah, let’s get one. Two-hundred bucks can get you pretty far here if you play your cards right,” Max replied. 

The two of them were pretty much the only ones in the store, apart from a few drifters and the people on staff. 

Max walked over to the sleep wear first, her biggest priority was getting out of Chloe’s few options for pajama pants. 

“I could use a few more comfy pants,” Chloe said, looking through them as well. 

“Yeah, I know. I feel like I’ve cut your resources in half just by borrowing from you.” 

Chloe placed some plain black pants in the cart. “I’m sure Joyce would be cool to repay you for whatever I buy today,” She said. 

“I already told you, I’m buying.” 

“Come on, Max. I gotta squeeze out all the sympathy money from her while I can. You have no idea how spoiled I was the first few months after my dad died.” 

“Okay, then ask her for tattoo money or something. Tell her you’re gonna get something to remember Rachel. But I’m buying today.

There was silence for a moment and Max thought she had gone too far, but then Chloe shrugged. 

“Whatever you say, Maximista. Get it? It’s like fashionista but with Max,” Chloe said. Max just stared blankly. “Fine, you’re too high to get my genius. I’ll say it again later.” 

“I’ll probably just groan then,” Max said. Chloe wandered off then to let Max shop on her own. Once Max had gotten enough new, or rather, new to her pajama pants she moved on to where Chloe had gone. 

Chloe was sifting aimlessly through a row of jeans. 

“Those would look good on you,” Max said, as Chloe paused on a pair of pants that had bedazzled hearts on the back pockets. 

“I can’t tell if you’re trying to be funny or if you’re just high,” Chloe said. 

“I’m being serious.” Max said, trying to hold in laughter. 

“I am never getting you stoned again.”

“Why aren’t you uber giggly too?” Max asked. 

“I’ve not a giggly high. I get introspective, but I’ve learned to keep it to myself.” 

“I shouldn’t be laughing,” Max laughed. 

“You shouldn’t be,” Chloe agreed. 

“I’m sorry,” Max said, pursing her lips to keep everything in.  _ How absolutely hilarious? I had time traveling powers? And the girl I spent the last week looking for is dead as a doornail?  _ Max’s ribs hurt from holding the laugher in. Getting high is...weird. 

“So, was selling weed fun?” Max asked Chloe abruptly.  

“Jesus, christ, we are in public,” Chloe hissed. 

“Right, sorry.” 

She walked away from Chloe then, hoping maybe she would be able to shop seriously if Max’s eyes weren’t on her. 

Max started getting giddy about how much she was finding that she was wanting, but what pushed her over the edge was a dark grey, cut off jean vest that had BABE MAGNET on the back in bold red letters.

“Oh, my god,” Max said. She took the vest off the rack and went back to find Chloe and the cart.

“I’m buying this for you,” Max said, as close to deadpan as she possibly could. 

“What?” Chloe said, turning around to see what Max had just placed in the cart. A smile slowly spread on her face as she saw what Max had found. “I love it,” Chloe said. 

Max left her then, hoping not to ruin the moment by saying anything else dumb. 

The two of them did their shopping separately, with Max returning with arms full of clothes every couple minutes. 

“Fashion show when we get home?” Max asked, once they were in the checkout lane. 

“Maybe after we’ve washed them all,” Chloe said, cautiously. For once Chloe sounded like the responsible one. 

The way home was more comfortable than the way there. The girls had four giant bags of clothes between them and $120 left over. 

Diner was kind of the same, just the two of them sitting at the dining room table.

Max was still feeling a little bit of her high and she reasoned this to be a good enough excuse not to tell Chloe about her rewind powers. 

Max hadn’t dared test it out again, scared it would come back and scared it wouldn’t. It seemed like everytime Max actually opened her eyes to look around at what was to come in the future, it was scary. 

_ Sometime this has to even out, right? There will come a time when everything is at peace. At least just for a little while maybe _

The girls were done with dinner by around five thirty. They never did stop to get those muncies, so they ate early. 

Both Chloe and Max were plagued with yawns while they cleaned up the dishes. “What do you say we head to bed early?” Chloe asked. “It’s been a long…” Chloe trailed off, seeming unsure of whether or say day or week or… life. 

“I should probably get to reading the journal…” Max said.

“It can be put on hold for one night. ‘Sides, I don’t want you trying to crawl into bed, waking me up once you’ve decided you’re ready for bed.”

“Okay, Chloe,” Max said, choosing to take this as a good sign.

With their new clothes in the wash, wearing Chloe’s felt nice again to Max. Along with the security of having her own clothes again came back the comfort of wearing Chloe’s. 

Chloe and Max fell asleep as the sun was setting. Max watched the shadows on the wall slowly fade. 

At 3:03 AM, Max woke up in a cold sweat, without a grip on reality. All she knew was that the fact that she had fucked up was being ground into her head yet again. In the dream she hadn’t left Chloe. She had still moved to Seattle, but the girls texted everyday and had religious skype schedules. They saw each other a couple weeks in the summer and when Max got the news that she would be moving back to Blackwell, they both cried. 

The dream ended with Max arriving at Chloe’s house and Chloe running out to hug her. They held on so tightly and for so long. The feelings of Chloe’s skin felt so real to Max. Right before Max woke up, dream Chloe asked, “You’re staying with us tonight, right?” The way she said it was what broke Max. It was nothing like the Chloe she knew. That Chloe was so sure of everything between her and Max. 

Max felt tears run down her cheek when she realized it was going to take a very long time before either of them were completely certain of what they were. 

“Chloe, wake up,” Max said, nudging her slightly, losing control of her breathing. 

There was a low grumble from Chloe. 

_ If I want this, if I want Chloe to be trust me again, I have to be completely honest with her _

“Chloe, wake up,” Max repeated. 

“What is it?” Chloe asked, sitting up suddenly. She looked and sounded like she was still half asleep. 

“My powers are gone, Chloe.” Max said, sobbing. 

Chloe’s eyes widened a bit then. “What?”

“That night in the woods, Chloe, I tried to stop you from being hurt from that falling tree and I couldn’t. I couldn’t remind,” 

“Hey,” Chloe said, softly. “You gotta breathe, Max.” Max’s breathing was getting dangerously staggered. “Breath with me.” 

Max tried to match her breaths to Chloe’s. 

“That’s it,” Chloe said, placing a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Was that the first time you realized it was gone?”

Max nodded. 

“Say it’s gone, right? Say it never comes back, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” Chloe asked, sleepily. 

“You could die, Chloe.”

Chloe laughed. “That’s far from the worst thing that could happen.”

“I know you don’t give a shit about your own life, but I do,” Max said. She wanted it to come out strong and intimidating but it just sounded desperate. 

“Max,” Chloe started. 

“No, if you couldn’t give less of a shit about yourself or me, don’t lie or try to sugar coat it. I can see that Rachel was the only thing that ever meant anything to you, so what do you think she would say if she heard you saying the things you’re saying?”

“She probably wouldn’t say anything, Max. She never did. Rachel was always there when you were ready to riot but whenever shit got real, she couldn’t deal.” Chloe took a deep breath then. “I mean, I don’t know what you want me to say, Max. Today was a good day, but it doesn’t change the fact that most days, I’d rather not be here.”

“Chloe, you can’t say things like that!” Max whispered furiously. “I can help you get help, we can find a therapist or something. There’s things to try, Chloe.”

“You think I haven’t tried therapy?” Chloe asked, furiously. "Sorry, I shouldn't be so quick to get angry." 

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t know and it’s my fault I don’t know cause  I wasn’t here, but I’m trying to be here now.” 

“I just don’t know what you want me to say, Max. You’re not going to fix this yourself,”

“I know,” Max said. 

“I’m not gonna tell you to leave, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Chloe said. 

“I wouldn’t if you told me to.”

“I’m sorry about your powers, Max. We’ll figure it out,” Chloe said. 

“We’ll figure this all out.”

“Promise?” Chloe asked. 

“Promise.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall have no idea how much I wanted to use thrift shop for Max this chapter. 
> 
> also there were some really nice comments left on the last chapter but for some reason after I approved them, they still weren't showing up? I just wanted to let the commenters that I saw them and I really appreciate everything you guys wrote. in general, I want to reply to every single nice comment you guys leave but I think maybe it's not good etiquette to just reply 'thank you' on your own work? idfk. I think for now I'm gonna reply to questions and suggestions/theories but other than that I'm gonna leave it and hopefully you all can know how appreciative I am :)


	7. Nameless Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter 7  
> Thousand Eyes by Of Monsters & Men for Max  
> Chains by Torres for Chloe

 Max didn’t really sleep that night. She stayed up, making sure they both kept breathing. When Chloe’s alarm went off, Max was staring up at the ceiling.

“Morning,” Chloe said.

“Chloe, we need to talk,” Max said, sitting up. 

Chloe got out of bed and started rolling a joint on her desk. “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, Max.”

“I-,” Max was interrupted by a call coming in on her phone. “It’s Kate,” Max said, reading the caller ID.

“You should answer it,” Chloe said, searching through the pockets on pants she wore a couple days ago, looking for a lighter.

Max knew she needed to pick up the phone, she just wished that this wasn’t going to be thrown in her face later the next time she argues with Chloe.

“Kate, what’s going on?” Max asked, answering the phone.

“Hey, Max. I just wanted to let you know I’m being sprung today.”

“That’s great,” Max said, letting the relief flood her voice. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing well. I saw Alyssa and Stella last night, they were glad to hear I had spoken to you.”

“I’m sorry,” Max said, to no one specifically. “I’ve been so bad at returning texts recently. It’s really inexcusable.”

“Oh, Max. I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty, I just wanted you to know that they understand. Or they’re trying to.”

“If you talk them again, can you tell them I’m gonna try to respond to all my messages tonight? I swear.”

“I was actually going to ask if you wanted to have brunch today. If this isn’t too late of a notice. I have news I want to share with you.”

“I’m free,” Max managed to get out. The words burned her mouth. She felt so bad leaving Chloe alone but she would only be alone a couple hours at most.

“Oh, great! Can I met you at The Garden?” Kate asked.

“Absolutely. See you in forty?”

_Vegan restaurant. I can’t believe Kate never mentioned it. Though, of course she would be kind of person to do something that admirable without telling anyone. Kate, people like you are going save the environment. Now, excuse me while I crave my bacon omelette…_

“Do you need a ride somewhere?” Chloe asked, looking up from her own phone.

“I was just going to take the bus. Kate wants to meet up. She said she had some news to share with me.”

“You don’t need to have that look on your face, Max.” Chloe said, frowning slightly.

“What look?” Max asked, innocently, but avoiding eye contact.

“You look like I’m going to bite your head off.”

“Well, you did the last time I took a call from Kate,” Max said fast, squaring up to face Chloe.

“True,” Chloe said, contemplating. “I retract that last statement. Consider this me not biting your head off. Sorry about last time.”

“Shit happens, Chloe,” Max said.

“Thanks,” Chloe said quietly.  “Well, as a turn of events, I also have plans so I’m gonna hit the showers.” Chloe turned towards the door then.

“Wait, can I ask what your plans are?” Max asked, trying not to let any anxiety show.

“I have to meet up with Frank.” The way Chloe said that was like she was admitting to a crime. “I know what you’re gonna say,” Chloe said, walking back over to Max, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed.

Chloe got down on one knee so their eyes would be level to each others.

“Maxine Caulfield,” Chloe said with that shit-eating grin on her face. “I promise you I will be safe and that I’m not going to pick any fights. I’m going to give him the money I owe him. I thought about trying to keep it and that maybe after all that’s happened, he’d forget about it and let me off. But, I know he never is and it’s just not worth it.” Chloe stood up then, letting go of her gimmick. “‘Sides, I already texted with him this morning. He knows I’m coming and what I’m bringing.”

“What if he says something to you?” Max asked. “What if he pushes your buttons to try and get you to start something?”

“He wouldn’t do that now. He’s drowning too. Only he doesn’t have a you or a Joyce. She was all he had. Even if he did say something, I feel too bad for him to say anything back.”

Max grinded her teeth as she realized that this was happening and she had no ground to stand on to try and stop it.

“You text me as soon as you’re on your way home,” Max said.

“Obviously.” Chloe said, as she left the room for the shower.

Max tried to swallow the fear she felt building up in her throat. It only kind of worked. She plugged her headphones in and played the music louder than her thoughts. 

When Max arrived at the restaurant, she was early. She took a table outside, under the sun so Kate would be able to see her as soon as she got her.

While she waited, Max scrolled through her phone. Texts from her parents she felt bad about not replying to, texts from her other friends offering their sympathies and about twenty texts from one Warren Graham.

“Are you fucking serious?” Max said under her breath while rolling eyes. The first couple of texts were asking about Max’s well being and generally just word vomiting via text. But then the texts start to get more and more casual, the more recent he sent them.   

_Do I still want to go to the drive-in sometime? God, can’t this poor boy take a hint?_

“Something causing you stress?”

Max looked up from her phone then, startled by Kate.

“Oh, Kate. You scared me,” Max said, standing up and hugging her.

“Sorry, Max,” Kate said, laughing.

“Don’t apologize.”

“Let’s talk. There’s no point in wasting time, right?”

“Right,” Max said, nervously tugging at the bright orange sweater she had gotten yesterday and decided to wear today.

_Jezz, Max, you cannot freeze up like this when anyone mentions time_

“I don’t think there’s any point in drawing it out, so I’ll just say it. Max, I’m transferring to another boarding school.”

“What?” Max asked, frazzled.

“There’s no Blackwell for me to stay at and Lord knows I won’t be moving back in with my family.”

“Kate, you’re eighteen. You could stay.”

“I have no job or money saved up, Max.” Kate said, smiling. “It’s nice to see how much you want me to stay though.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

A waitress approached the table then, “Good morning, ladies. My name is Amber and I’ll be helping you today.  Can I get you started on something to drink?”

“I’ll just take a water,” Kate said. “Thank you.”

“Can I get unsweetened ice tea?” Max asked.

“I’ll be right back with that,” The waitress smiled and left.

“To answer your question, Max, I’m going to St. Joseph's. It’s an all girls boarding school in Delaware.”

“You’re going all the way to Delaware?”

“It’s a really good school. And I have to graduate somewhere.”

“I’m really gonna miss you, Kate,” Max said, processing this information.

“I’m really gonna miss you too, Max. But we’ll see each other again soon.”

“When are you leaving?” Max asked.

“Tomorrow night. I got my acceptance letter this morning.”

“Wow,” Max said.

“I know it’s fast, but my dad was very serious about getting me back into school. We both think it’s best for me get back into a normal routine. A fresh start of some kind.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“I am. It’s hard for me to talk about with Stella and Alyssa, cause they weren’t there for me the way you were, Max. But I have no problems telling you that I’ve started taking a low dose of fluoxetine. It’s done wonders for me.”

_Why does that sound familiar?_

“Then I’m happy for you Kate.” Max said, smiling.

Just the the waitress returned with their drinks and took their orders. Kate said what she wanted without even seeming to look at the menu. Max just copied her order. It sounded like they were going to get vegan pizza.

“What about you, Max? How are you recovering?”

 "I didn’t go through nearly as much as you did,” Max looked into her lap, trying not to show how much she actually had been through.

“It’s not a competition,” Kate reminded her, taking a sip of her water.

“I know,” Max said, leaning down to copy Kate and take a sip of her drink.

_Shit, that’s sweet_

“Something wrong, Max?”

“Oh, my drink order just got messed up. It’s no big deal.”

“Amber?” Kate called to the waitress who was at the other end of the patio walking away from taking someone else’s order.

“My friend’s drink isn’t what she ordered,” Kate politely said once Amber reached their tables.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Unsweetened tea, right?” Amber asked. 

“Yes, please.” Max said hesitantly.

“I’ll be right back with that.”

“Wow, Kate. I never would have expected you to be the kind of person to call out stuff like that. I know I’m not.”

“I’m a new person, Max,” Kate laughed. _It is so good to finally hear her laugh again._ “Honestly though, I’m a better me than I’ve ever been.”

“You have no idea how happy that makes me,” Max said.

Amber brought in their pizzas then, along with Max’s drink.

“I think that’s enough about me,” Kate said, blushing slightly. “What are your plans?” Kate took a bite.

Max leaned back in her chair and stared at the ground. “I don’t think I’m going back to high school. I admire you for jumping back in, but I just can’t. Too much has happened and too much has changed.”

“There’s nothing wrong with getting your GED,” Kate said.

“I know,” Max said, looking back up at Kate. “I’m still working on understanding everything that happened.” Max picked up her pizza slice to try a bit. _Not bad, vegan pizza_

“Is there something else going on?” Kate asked. “I don't mean to pry, but I do worry about you."

“It’s complicated. Have I ever told you about Chloe Price?”

“I think you mentioned her in passing once or twice,” Kate smiled slightly.

“What?” Max asked.

“Nothing. It’s just obvious how much you care about her.”

Max felt her entire face and chest flush a deep red. 

“Max?” Kate asked.

Max looked up then.

“You’re not worried about what I’ll think, are you? Because I’m not like that. Not all who are religious are intolerant that way.”

“What?” Max asked, genuinely confused now.

“I seem to have misread the situation…”

“Kate, what are you talking about?”

“You aren’t involved with Chloe, are you?"

Max’s instant reaction was pure shock.

“Chloe and I are the furthest thing from involved.” _Besides that one kiss… But I don’t think that counts really._

Max’s mind drifted to what it would be like to have an actual kiss with Chloe, but she let the thought pass her by. It came with too many questions Max didn’t have time for.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Max. I didn’t mean to-” Kate said, putting her slice down.

“Don’t worry about it, Kate.” Max laughed nervously. She took more bites of food just so she would have something to do. 

“You just seem really close to her.”

“I am. Or I used to be. I don’t really know. It’s hard to explain.”

“I’m sure things will work out for you,” Kate said. “You deserve it.”

“I hope so,” Max said.

“There’s a lot of healing that needs to happen for everyone in Arcadia Bay,” Kate said, seemingly to herself. She took another bite of her pizza then.

“Yeah. It’s so terrifying to be hit by a storm like that,” Max said.

“I’m thankful that the Prescotts seem to finally be doing something good for the town,” Kate said.

“It doesn’t seem…suspicious to you, does it?” Max asked cautiously.

“I try not to worry about things I have no control or proof of,” Kate said, strained. Max could tell it was taking everything in her not to be concerned about their motives.

“You’re right, Kate,” Max said, finishing the last of her pizza.

“I might not be right but it does help me keep my sanity at night.”

“We could all use some of that,” Max said as she picked up the tab for their lunch.

As Max was walking Kate to her car, she noticed something gold and shiny out of the corner of her eye on the restaurant building. It was a plaque that read, 'REPAIRS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE DONATION OF THE PRESCOTT FOUNDATION'  and below that were the engraved signatures of Nathan's parents. The sight of it made Max uneasy. Like it was a small camera they were using to watch her every move.

 

…

As Max and Kate were finishing up their meal, Chloe was just arriving at Frank’s RV. He asked she not come before noon and she respected his wishes, not wanting to walk in on anything she didn’t need to see.

Once she got there, Chloe banged twice on the RV door, setting off Pompidou.

“Hey, easy, killer, go chew your fucking bone. I told you we’d have more than one visitor,” Chloe heard Frank say from inside the RV. She always thought it was kind of annoying how attached Frank was to that dog. She missed Bongo.

Frank opened the door a second later. “Bulldog,” Frank greeted Chloe.

“You know, I never understood why you chose that name,” Chloe said, stepping into the RV.  “Why not choose something more insulting, like a pomeranian?”

“Poms are just possessive. Bulldogs are possessive _and_ stubborn,”

“I’m gonna take the money out of my pocket now,” Chloe said, reaching into her back pocket for her wallet. She handed it to Frank.

He counted it slowly.

“That’s all of it, plus an extra fifty for your trouble.” Chloe didn’t want to admit it to Frank but she felt sorry for him. The sympathy was easier to feel than the hate.

“Why are you doing this, Chloe?” Frank asked once he was finished counting.

“I just don’t want to worry about you showing up and harassing me at any given moment. Is that a crime?”

“No, it's not. I was actually going to offer you your old job back today.”

“I’m gonna have to pass,” Chloe said, turning towards the door.

“If Rachel cared about both of us, there should be some way for us to get along,” Frank said, quietly. 

Chloe turned around again. “That’s the thing though, Frank. She didn’t really care about either of us. She definitely used me and I wouldn’t be surprised if she lied to you about what I was to her.”

“You know about us,” Frank said, eyes going wide.

“Of course I know,” Chloe said, crossing her arms.

“Rachel did tell me something about the two of you,” Frank started. Finally something that actually caught Chloe’s attention.

“What did she say?” Chloe asked. So many thoughts were rushing through her head, none of the actually making sense. 

“She said the two of you were just messing around and it didn’t mean anything to her but it did mean something to you.”

“Sounds about right,” Chloe said through clenched teeth. “Look, Frank, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have someone waiting on me at home.”

“What? You mean your new girlfriend?” Frank asked, laughing like he had already started his drinking. “You could at least wait for Rachel to be in the ground a week before you sink your teeth into someone else. Have some respect for the dead.”

“Are you talking about Max?” Chloe asked, her voice rising in pitch.

“Is that her name? The half pint that’s been following you around this last week? Yeah, her.”

“Max is nothing like what Rachel was,” Chloe said and it actually felt true in a good sense. Max was honest in ways Rachel could never comprehend. If Rachel had developed time traveling powers, God knows she wouldn’t have told Chloe…

“Whatever you say, bulldog. I just fucking hope the next one actually has feelings for you. I’m getting seriously sick of the Chloe Price sympathy show.”

“Yeah, me too,” Chloe said and then left.

In the truck, she texted Max that she was on her way home, safe and sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god the title for this chapter is so boring i'm sorry
> 
> edit: haha I changed it. the old title, "Old Friends" reminded me of an old song and that's where I got the new title. I know it's not as telling as the other chapter titles but I like it


	8. An Invite Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 8  
> Punchin' Bag by Cage the Elephant for Chloe  
> What Kind Of Man by Florence + The Machine for Max

 

Chloe: hey I’m on my way home from frank’s safe and sound. see you when I get home?

Max: I’m still on the bus so IDK. Maybe I’ll beat you home :) 

Chloe: NO EMOJI

Max: :D

Chloe: call it a race, caulfield

Chloe could just picture that wide, full face smile on Max. It made her chest clench up in a weird way and she wasn’t sure why.

Max did in fact, beat Chloe home, much to Max’s satisfaction. When Max walked in the door, she was immediately greeted by Rachel’s journal staring at her from the coffee table.

_ Not now, Rachel _

Max went upstairs, hoping to find something much more interesting. Once she was up stairs, she headed for the bathroom.

_ Ah ha!  _ Max thought, opening the top drawer in the vanity and pulling out a bottle of fluoxetine prescribed to one Chloe Price.

_ I knew I recognised that name. This was dated to be refilled yesterday, but there’s still at least half a dozen pills in here… _

“Max?” Chloe called out from down stairs. Max quickly shoved the pills back in the drawer. 

“Up here!” Max replied. 

“Damn it!” Chloe swore. 

“Maybe next time, Price,” Max said, hopping down the stairs. 

“How’s Kate?” Chloe asked once they were both in the breezeway.

“She’s great. She’s moving away, though.” Max tried to hide the sadness in her voice.

“Oh,” Chloe said. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” 

“But she’s doing better and that’s all I can really ask for,” Max said, thinking about what could have happened to Kate…

“Yeah,” Chloe said. Chloe’s phone buzzed then. She pulled it out and read the message she had just received. 

“Fuck,” Chloe said as any and all light sucked from her face. 

“What?” Max asked, suddenly panicked, feeling her blood run cold

“She’s bringing David back here and they want to talk to both of us,” Chloe said through a clenched jaw. 

“Wait, when are they coming?”

“They’re on their way from the motel. I say we ditch,” Chloe said, putting her jacket back on. 

“No, Chloe. We can’t. We have to hear them out,” Max said. 

Chloe turned to walk out the door. Max grabbed Chloe arm and pulled her back inside. The feeling startled them both. Max let go as soon as she was sure Chloe wasn’t going to run out.

“Not a week ago you were saying David deserved better,” Max reminded her. 

“That doesn’t mean I think he should be allowed to live in my house,” Chloe said, stern. 

“You have no idea what they’re going to say when they get here. You have to wait and listen. You owe your mom that much.”

“I don’t owe anyone anything,” Chloe said. “She was the one who brought that monster into our house in the first place.”

“David loves you, Chloe. You should have seen him when he heard you were dead,” Max said. 

There was a confused expression on Chloe’s face. “Sorry, alternate timeline you don’t remember,” Max explained. “What matters is that he really cares about you and I’ve seen that."

“I never questioned if he loves us,” Chloe said quietly. 

“Then what’s the problem?” Max asked, exasperated. 

Chloe opened her mouth to say something but just then the door opened and in walked Joyce and David. 

“Girls,” Joyce started. The tone of voice she was using was the same voice you’d use if you were trying to coax a scared bunny out of hiding. “Why don’t we all have a seat in the living room?”

David stood behind Joyce slightly, like he was told to follow her lead. 

Max took a firm but subtle grip on Chloe’s wrist and lead her to couch where the two of them sat down. Joyce and David stood in front of them. 

“Max, normally I would say that this is family matters. But I’ve come to accept that Chloe considers you to be family. Not to mention the fact that you’re living here for the time being. But living under my roof comes with restrictions. What I say goes. And that includes what I’m about to say about David.”

“David is moving back in,” Chloe guessed. 

“Yes, but listen up the two of you. Neither of you is go through David’s things ever again.” 

“What about the cameras? Those get to stay, right?”  Chloe asked sarcastically. 

“David is going to remove all of the cameras today and he is start attending therapy twice a week to work on his PTSD.” 

“Joyce and I both agree that my symptoms got out of control. I’m going to therapy to try and keep it in check,” David said. 

“David going to therapy is very brave of him and hope you two can see that,” Joyce said. 

“I know my PTSD isn’t an easy subject or something that gets brought up a lot, but I think we all know it was there. I’m sorry if I never made my...condition clear to you, Chloe.”

_ Shit, David looks like he’s close to tears. And then there’s Joyce, ever the stone cold _

“Both of you are on final warnings,” Joyce said. “A family cannot function without trust."

“What do you mean ‘both of us’?” Chloe asked, glaring.

“You’re an adult, Chloe. I understand you are mourning Rachel right now but that doesn’t excuse the way you’ve treated David the last five years.  And frankly, I don’t appreciate the way you treat me, Chloe. Your attitude needs a serious adjustment. You’re unhappy but that doesn’t give you the right to treat the people around you terribly. You’ve lashed out one too many times, Chloe. You’re nineteen and twenty is just around the corner. It’s becoming clear to be that you’re not just going to grow out of this rebellious phase. You need a little tough love, my dear. So if there are any more outbursts from you towards anyone who cares about you without cause, you’re out of this house.”

Chloe’s face was the dictionary definition of the word surprised. Mouth gaping open, eyebrows pulled together and eyes narrowed. 

“Are you serious?” Chloe said.

“As a heart attack.” Joyce. “I would not be a good mother if I continued to  allow you to treat me and my husband the you have been. Let alone how you’ve been treating yourself.” 

“Maybe you won’t have to kick me out. Maybe I’ll just leave,” Chloe said, recovering from the shock and going back to anger. 

“Maybe your own place would be good for  you Chloe but you are welcome to stay here, as long as you are respectful.” 

“I have to go,” Chloe said, absent mindedly. She got up then, walking towards the door. She opened the door and paused. “You coming, Max?” 

Max got up quickly then, glad to have an invite out.    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the slow update and how short this chapter is. shit happens. you know. more updates to follow, soon.


	9. Good Bad Influence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 9  
> Heart Like Yours by Willamette Stone for Chloe  
> Dream by Cara Salimando for Max

 Chloe’s truck sped out of the neighborhood at a dangerous speed.  

“Chloe, you have got  to slow down,” Max said, calmly. “Do you even know where you want to go?"

“No,” Chloe said, “Anywhere but here would be a good start.”

“Stop the car,” Max said.

Chloe stomped on the brakes.

“Joyce just doesn’t want to watch you destroy yourself,” Max explained. It felt like Max had a thousand words tossing over themselves in her throat, itching to get out.

“Who said that’s what I’m doing?” Chloe asked.

“You did. Last night. I can’t just ignore what you said. Chloe, you need help and you need to start taking your medication again.”

“Who the fuck told you I was taking medication?” Chloe asked, her voice showing the sorrow and fury that came when Chloe no longer felt like she was in control.

“Nobody did. I went looking through the drawers," Max said, no longer concerned with keeping up the illusion of her being something other than a snoop. 

“Damn, Max, maybe you’re the one, Joyce needs to be kicking out.”

“She’s not kicking you,” Max said. “Yet. She just wants to lay off trashing David and yourself. And I'm sure the illegal substance you bring into her house doesn't really help your overall case." 

“I’m sure my self medicating has nothing to do with it,” Chloe said, eyes rolling.

“It would probably be a good idea to stop smoking at her house. It’s not like you’re ever very secretive about it. I mean, your room reeks.”

“It’s all David’s fault. Joyce would never have had a problem with my smoking if she wasn’t married to a fucking security guard.”

“Really, Chloe? Do you really think that?” Max asked. Confronting Chloe that harshly made Max’s body feel like it was made entirely with adrenaline.  

Chloe let her head drop to the steering wheel, her faded blue hair falling into her hands.

_Okay. I’ll take that as a no_

“Let’s go the lighthouse,” Max suggested. “We should talk.”

Chloe took a deep breath and seemed to regain herself. “Yeah, we should. There’s a lot you don’t know.”

Chloe put the car in drive and they were once again speeding out of the neighborhood.

 

…

"When did the medication start?" Max asked hesitantly, once they were at their spot. 

"About a year and half after you left. Which was after three months of therapy that didn't do jack shit." 

"When did therapy stop?" 

"A couple months after I met Rachel. It was like all of the sudden was like I didn't need it anymore. My therapist said that it wouldn't be good for me to be in therapy long term, that it would do more harm than good and with Rachel, I felt like I had finally gotten my footing back."

"Do you feel like you have your footing now?"

"I don't feel like I even have a body to hold up, let's put it that way."

"I had no idea you had it so hard, Chloe."

"Yeah. You weren't here."

"I know, but it's normal to be sad and it's normal to be angry and resent people. I just didn't know how bad it was."

"My therapist used to sort things into unnecessary and appropriate emotional reactions.  Crying because I missed you or my dad was appropriate, punching walls and mouthing off was not. It always seemed like the reactions that inconvenience others were always the unnecessary ones. You know, I honestly can't see how anyone would go through what I did and come out the other side unphased."

"You've been through a lot, Chloe." Max said. "I don't know how I would handle it if all of that happened to me."

"That makes me feel real great, Max," Chloe said, angrily. "I've always loved it when people say things like, 'Aw, man I honestly don't know what I'd do without my dad. My life probably wouldn't be worth living anymore but good on you for trying it out!'" 

"That's not what I was trying to say," Max said, trying to defend herself. "I'm trying to say you were brave."

"The word brave implies a choice," Chloe spit.

The two of them sat in silence for a good little while. Max trying to hold back tears and Chloe trying hold back the fury. 

“I don’t want you to think I don’t know I’m an asshole. I know I am,” Chloe said.

“You’re not an asshole, Chloe,” Max said. 

Chloe said nothing. “You’re not, I swear,” Max said. “You’re funny and loyal and loving.”  _and smart and beautiful and honest and kind..._

“Those things are not mutually exclusive,” Chloe said quietly, staring out at the sun that was just beginning to set.

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,”

“I’m trying to say that I know I’m difficult. I have issues coming out my ass.” 

“You think I don’t have my own issues?” Max asked.

“No, I know you do, but you don’t let them take over the way I do. It almost feels better when those emotions do take over.”

“There are things you can do, ways to manage them," Max said.  “Were you serious about trying to find a place of your own?” 

“I don’t know. I’d have to find a job and right now the easiest thing would be for me to go crawling back to Frank and I really would rather not do that.”

“I don’t want that either.”

“Chloe?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you stop taking your medication?”

“They blurred everything, Max. It was like everything had turned to watercolor and I had to keep trying to find the lines. It was fine when I didn't have much to live for, but then Rachel entered the picture and I didn't want any of us to be blurred, and it was fine most of the time.  I went back on after she went missing, to help deal with the pain. I stopped again once you got back it town. I was done with them to begin with but seeing you again was a good motivator."

“I’m sure there are other meds to try,” Max said, trying to be comforting.

“I don’t want meds." 

“Then you have to keep trying other things.” Max said, standing up. “You can’t just do nothing and expect this to go away.”

“You have no idea how hard I’ve been trying. Trying for you, trying for my mom. I used to try for Rachel, but I guess I didn’t try enough. She changed her mind about me, about us.”

“I won’t change my mind,” Max said desperately.

“You can’t know that,” Chloe said.

For a moment, Max thought that maybe Chloe was right. Who was Max to say what she would feel when she had no idea what was ahead? But then she remembered it was Chloe. The same girl she loved so many years ago and the same girl she loved now. Remembering every memory the two of them had shared made Max feel like she was going to cry, it was so overwhelming.  The depressed blue haired girl that sat in front of her was the same girl Max used to stay up with every night of summer break, just because they could talk for hours on end and never run out of things to say. 

Max knelt down in front of Chloe, stealing her gimmick from earlier this morning.

“Chloe Elizabeth Price, my partner in crime and first mate, I promise you I am not going to abandon you. Not again.”

“Are you going to be mad if I don’t believe you?” Chloe asked hesitantly.

“No, but I am going to be mad if you don’t at least give me the chance to prove it to you,”

“That’s fair enough,” Chloe said.  

“We’ll do it together, okay?” Max asked. “We’ll move on and we’ll do it together.”

“Are you crying?” Chloe asked, bewildered.

“No,” Max said, sniffly.

“You so are,” Chloe said, surprised. Chloe leaned down to grab Max’s hands. She pulled her up to her feet. There was an awkward moment of the two of them just standing and holding hands. “Max, I’ll do it. I’ll get it done, I promise.”

“Okay, good," Max said. “I want to go home.” 

“What?” Chloe asked, letting go.

“Back to Joyce’s?” Max clarified, turning back to Chloe.

“Oh,” Chloe said, wishing she could somehow rewind to get Max’s hand back in hers. Sadly, they now lived in a world with no second chances. Chloe decided she had to make the most of the chances she got. Still, even with that decision in mind she found herself unable to act on it in this specific moment.

“Are you okay with that?” Max asked.

“Yeah, I’m completely fine with that. Let's go home,” Chloe said.

When they got back to the house, it was a just starting to be completely dark, the night sky just beginning to show.

“The stars never look like this in Seattle,” Max said, gazing up at the sky after she gotten out of the car.

“Yeah, well that’s small town glory for you,” Chloe said.

The two walked up the steps together.

 _I am so ready for bed_ Max thought. _I hope Chloe is as ready as I am. It’s hard to sleep when I know she’s just staring up at the ceiling waiting for morning..._

Chloe reached forward to open the door while Max looked over her shoulder to check out the stars again.

“Wait,” Max said, seeing something out of the corner of her eye as Chloe opened the door.

“Maxine Caulfield, do you have any idea how worried your father and I were?”

_Fuck I thought I saw their car_

In the Price living room stood Joyce, David and Max’s parents.

Max’s entire body froze up while her mind flooded with the tasks she had forgotten. _I was supposed to text them back. Shit_

“Mom, Dad,” Max started, walking in the door. She could feel Chloe come in behind and close the door.

“I don’t want any excuses from you, young lady,” Ryan said.

“There are no excuses for how you’ve behaved,” Vanessa added.

“I forgot, I just forgot,” Max said, preparing herself for the biggest lecture she’d ever gotten.

Instead, her mother ran to her and squeezed the life out of her.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Maxine,” Vanessa said.

Ryan walked over to the two of them and laid a hand on Max’s shoulder. The man looked like he was holding back tears.

When Vanessa finally managed to let go, Max was embraced by her father.

“You can never scare us like that again, Max,” Vanessa said.

“I was just with Chloe. What did you think had happened?” Max asked bewildered.

Max’s parents exchanged looks.

“Oh,” Max said. 

Chloe laughed awkwardly. “Hey, what are the chances of that ever happening again, right?” She said darkly.

“Chloe, dear, it’s been so long,” Vanessa said, trying to hide her surprise at how much the girl had changed. Vanessa walked over to Chloe and gave her an unexpected hug.

“You look so grown up, Chloe,” Ryan said. “William would be so proud.”

“I look a hot mess actually, but thank you for saying that,” Chloe joked. 

“Max, we’ve missed you so much,” Vanessa said. “We want you to home home with us. We’ve spoken to Seattle High School for the Arts, and your acceptance is apparently still valid. They can start you on Monday.”

_That school was my fallback, if I didn’t get into blackwell. But now, it doesn’t feel like it’s even an option_

“No,” Max said.

“What?” Ryan asked.

“I’m not going.”

“Why on earth not?” Vanessa laughed. “You have to finish high school somewhere and this was your dream school, minus one psychotic professor. Not to mention it’s only a few blocks away from the apartment, you could bike to school and live at home.”

“I know. I remember. But I’m not going.”

“This is what’s best for you, Max,” Ryan said, calmly.

Chloe felt like she could see it happening right before her eyes, right before she could do anything about it.

“You don’t know what’s best for me,” Max said quietly.

Now that got some actual anger from her parents.

“Have you decided to throw your photography future away? Are you no longer working towards that goal?” Vanessa asked.

For as long as Max could remember, both of her parents always got over analytical and business like with her whenever they argued. She knew it was no point trying to convince them to see it her way, so she just hit them with the facts.

“I’m eighteen years old, I’ll do what I want,” Max said. She felt like a rebel for once, standing up to her parents. _Get me some tatts and call me a badass._

Both Vanessa and Ryan opened their mouths to say something, but nothing came out for a long time.

“Do you have any idea the future you could be throwing away?” Vanessa finally asked.

“Do you have any idea what this is doing to your mother and me?” Ryan asked on top of that.

“I have no idea how great my future will be here, if I stay here in Arcadia bay, that’s how I’m choosing to look at it. And I’m sorry I can’t live with you and I’m sorry I forgot to return your calls. I promise I will call, if you still want to hear from me.”

“Of course we still want to hear from you, Max, sweetheart. We’re just trying to protect you from the danger that sometimes comes with youth,” Ryan said.

“Okay. Well, you can stop. You should know the person I am and trust me not to get into too much trouble. You cannot protect me from everything, this last week has proven that. Just give me the freedom to make my own choices.”

“Max?” Vanessa asked.

“Yeah?”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Warren does it?”

“What?” Max asked completely taken aback.

“Or any other boys?”

“No!” Max shouted. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“Okay, sorry sorry. I just, I know how I was at that age. I had just met you father and it was too easy to lose myself in that. Luckily it worked out for me, but if you fall for the wrong guy…”

“This seems like a conversation we can have later, no?” Max asked, losing her patience.

“Yes, we can talk later,” Vanessa said, seeming to remember everyone else in the room then.

“It’s getting pretty late,” David said, finally speaking.

“We should get going,” Ryan said, almost finishing David’s sentence. “We’re staying at the motel six right out of town and we’re leaving early tomorrow morning for Seattle, if you change your mind, Max.”

“I won’t,” Max said, watching the last hope in her parent's eyes die. 

“It was lovely seeing you again, Joyce, Chloe, and nice to meet you David.” Vanessa said. Ryan echoed the same sentiments.

Max hugged and kissed her parents goodbye and then they were gone and the four of them were alone.

“Joyce, you’re not mad at me for staying here when I have a proper home, right?” Max asked, worried Joyce was going to want her gone. 

“Of course not, Max. You need to be where your heart tells you to be and if that’s in Arcadia Bay then that’s where you should be. You can stay here as long as you need to and aren’t causing any trouble.”

Max breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I believe it’s time for Joyce and I to go to bed,” David said.

“Yes, it’s already been quite the day,” Joyce said. “We'll see you girls in the morning.”

Joyce and David went up stairs then, leaving Max and Chloe alone again.

“Dude, did you serious think Joyce was gonna want you to leave?” Chloe asked, laughing.

“Well, she did threaten to kick me out not twelve hours ago.”

“That was for me, not you,” Chloe said. “She has no doubt that you’ll follow the rules and continue to be a good influence on me. She just has to wager that I won’t be too bad of an influence on you.”

“We’ve already talked about this, you’re a good bad influence,” Max said, smiling.

“Whatever you say, Max," Chloe said, smiling just a bit.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha! I hope this doesn't suck. it was written between the hours of 1am-3:30 am so god only knows how i'll feel when I re read it in the morning
> 
> also, can I just say that I've officially written a 20k+ fan fiction? I never imagined this to be something I would even consider doing before I played LiS but look at me now


	10. Liability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter 10  
> Untouchable by Luna Halo for Max  
> Liability by Lorde for Chloe

“Are you ready to go to bed?” Max asked.

“Not quite,” Chloe said. “I want to show you something.”

Chloe led Max upstairs. When they got into Chloe’s room, Max attempted to turn the light on.

“Hey, no, leave that off,” Chloe said.

“Okay?" 

“Come here,” Chloe said, beginning to climb out her window. Max followed her hesitantly. 

To Max’s surprise, though, they just stayed on the roof. Chloe laid down on her back and Max copied her.

“The light from the window would ruin the view. It’s bad enough that all the goddamn neighbors feel the need to leave their porch lights on. Like anyone in this broke ass neighborhood has anything worth stealing,” Chloe said, staring up at the night sky.

“They’re beautiful.” Max turned her head slightly to the side to see her best friend’s look of amazement.

“They always make me feel so insignificant,” Chloe said, like it was a good thing.

“Yeah, I think we can all use some of that sometimes,” Max said.  “That was all real, wasn’t it? I keep having this suspicion that I’m just in a mental hospital right now hallucinating vividly.”

“I can prove that this is real.”

“How?” Max asked.

Chloe leaned over and pinched Max’s arm. 

“Ouch! Chloe!” Max said.

“Hurt, right?” Chloe asked, smirking.

“Yeah, it hurt.”

“Face it, Max. You’re stuck with me,” Chloe joked.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Max said, suddenly serious. The serious tone shut them both up for a moment. 

"I always look at the stars when it gets to be too much down here. I used to think about how at least when you were gone, we were always under the same sky," Chloe said. 

"Who knows though. Maybe it was alien abduction that gave me my powers," Max joked. 

"We'll probably never know," Chloe said, deep in thought. 

"I think I'm okay with that," Max said, looking over at Chloe again.  At some point the too comfortable silence let Max fell asleep. She felt herself being woken up by Chloe.

“Time for bed, Max,” Chloe whispered.

The two of the crawled back through the window without much trouble and got dressed in pajamas hastily.

Max felt herself fall back asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

…

When Chloe woke up the next morning, she could feel instantly that it was going to be a long day. Depression doesn’t take its time letting you know it’s there. She splashed some cold water on her face in the bathroom and tried to blink away the redness in her eyes and reminded herself that as hard as it right now felt, she’s survived far worse. She went quietly downstairs, trying to let Max sleep as long as possible.

Once she was downstairs, Chloe turned on the kitchen radio, keeping it at a low volume. She just didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts.  She made coffee slowly, realizing that both David and her Mom had already left for the day.  It felt nice to be alone for once and not have to act any certain way.

Today Chloe needed to go get her stitches out at the hospital. The things were itching like crazy and she was ready to have her leg back, even though it felt it was going to be almost impossible to leave the house today.

When the coffee was ready, Chloe brought it to the living room and sat on the couch, still listening to NPR. She noticed almost immediately that Rachel’s journal was still sitting on the floor where Max had left it. Chloe thought for a split second and then picked it up without hesitation.

 _It’s not self destructive if I’ll be fine after I read it. Better even,_ Chloe thought. Chloe didn’t take the same methodical approach Max did. She skimmed over every line, really just searching for her own name.

It became pretty obvious that the diary was lacking in Chloe. Rachel mostly talked about herself, like Max said. Which, Chloe couldn’t blame her for. It was her diary, but Chloe couldn’t help but think that if Chloe was the type to keep a journal, it would be covered in Rachel. Maybe that was their problem. Chloe had always been in love with Rachel, in one way or another, while Rachel just...wasn't. 

Chloe was getting bored when she skipped to the final pages. Finally she seemed to strike something good.

_I don’t know what to do with Chloe anymore. She’s reckless and can act like a child. She’s going to get herself killed one day. If she didn’t have me to back her up she’d probably already be dead. I can’t believe she just mouthed off to Frank like that. She’s lucky I was able to make it up to him. I love her, but not the way she wants. She’s a liability._

In that paragraph, everything Chloe had always guessed was confirmed.  Chloe was a storm and Rachel had just been dancing in it. Chloe realized that everything she had seen and felt with Rachel was real. There was no one way that Rachel felt about her; Rachel wasn’t a monster who was using her but she wasn’t also secretly in love with Chloe like Chloe had wanted. They were a tangled web of in-betweens and Chloe didn’t need to ‘uncover’ anything else for that to be true.

Chloe lit up the fireplace and threw the journal in and then went outside to smoke a cigarette.  It had already been a long morning. 

…

Before Max opened her eyes that morning, she knew something was missing. 

“Chloe,” Max said, bolting upright. When Chloe was nowhere in the room, Max sprang out of bed and jogged downstairs.

“Chloe?” Max called, looking through the kitchen and living room. She threw open the front door to find Chloe, who was still in pajamas, smoking a cigarette in front of her truck.

“Chloe!” Max yelled, running outside, barefoot. Max tackled Chloe from behind, making her drop her cigarette.

“Jesus, Max, are you okay?’ Chloe coughed, trying to turn around.

Max just nodded, trying to keep her breathing steady.

“Are you okay?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, I just, I woke up and you were gone,” Max confessed.

“Okay, well, you found me. Let’s go back inside, yeah?” Chloe asked, stomping out the cigarette that had fallen.

"What’s burning?” Max asked, as soon as they got through the door. The smell had filled the house.

“Plastic, I think,” Chloe said, walking over and sitting on the couch.

“Chloe.” Max walked closer to the fireplace to see what it was and recognised Rachel’s journal.

“It’s okay, Max,” Chloe said. “I knew who she was.”

"Are you-"

"Yeah," Chloe said. "I have my appointment this morning, remember?" Chloe reminded Max reluctantly. 

"Oh right, sorry, it slipped my mind. I should be getting ready," Max said. 

"Meet you at the car in thirty?" Chloe asked. 

Max nodded, already starting towards the shower. 

…

While they were driving to the hospital, an uncomfortable silence grew. Max could feel herself gearing up to say something stupid to end it.

“So what else have you been up to while I was gone?” Max asked, suddenly too cheery.

Chloe glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “I don’t know. I wear my change on my sleeve. What about you, hipster? Any changes in religion? Political affiliation? Evil exes I should know about?”

Max laughed. _Leave it Chloe to put the spotlight back on me_

“No change in religion, though maybe the whole time traveling thing should make me question my agnostic stance. No change in political party, and no evil exes either. A couple evil friend-zoned bros, though,” Max said.

Chloe laughed loudly then. “Fucking figures you’d leave a trail of Warrens wherever you go.”

“They weren’t all exactly like Warren!” Max protested, halfheartedly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about him.”

“I’ll tell you what you do,” Chloe started, trying to keep her laughs in. “You text him, say hey, Warren, I don’t think we’d be a good match. And then you watch him blubber to get his words out, he'll say of course, he values your friendship and wouldn’t want to risk it but then he continues to put the moves on you, because fuckboys like him never can take a hint, let alone a straight forward text message. But then, so okay, he keeps being a douche and basically what I'm getting at is that you should let me kick his ass for you.”

“That’s it? That’s your grand plan? I let you beat him up?” Max asked, smiling. 

“Do you have a better idea? I mean, what are you going to do, just ignore him and hope he forgets you exist?” Chloe said that without realizing what she was saying. “Shit, sorry, I wasn’t trying to get at that today, Max.”

“You shouldn’t be the one apologizing."

“I didn’t exactly reach out, either,” Chloe said quietly.

“No, but you shouldn’t have had to. You were grieving and I left. I honestly don’t know why you still want me around,” Max said, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.

“Hey, none of that shit. You fucked up, okay? I’m sure I’ll fuck something up even worse for us in the future, and then maybe you can forgive yourself then. I forgive you, okay?That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still make it hard sometimes. But I’ve made this choice already and so have you. You’re in my life and I’m in yours.”

“I’m sorry,”

“It’s okay,” Chloe said.

“Everything felt wrong while I was away. I became somebody that I didn't like, someone who could just shove us under the rug. After that first year, I tried to tell myself that you had probably moved on and that we were just kids. People don’t usually stay close with the people they’re best friends with in middle school, but I should have know you were different. It just became easier and easier to convince myself of that lie the longer I went.”

“I don’t know what I would have done in that situation,” Chloe said, staring straight ahead. “if I had been in your place.”

"I'm sure you would have done the right thing," Max said.

"Who knows what that is," Chloe said, taking one hand off the steering wheeling and placing it gently on Max's shoulder for a moment and then bringing it back to the wheel. 

"I know this is," Max said, over confident. 

Chloe looked over at her, confused. 

"Being around you is the right thing. At least I know for me it is," Max clarified. 

"No, it's the right thing for me too," Chloe said, giving Max the confirmation she was asking for. 

"Are you sure? I hurt you so much. I'm worried I'll do more damage than good."

"Well, let's just say I know what I want, and I know what you want. I know those things for certain. Neither of us can really say what exactly the right thing is, because we haven't seen the future, right?" 

Max didn't say anything for a minute, not realizing Chloe was actually asking her a question. "Sorry. Right." 

"So what we want and what we feel right now should be all we need to feel good about our choices. I mean, you're not holding in some deep dark suspicion that this is going to end badly, are you?" 

"No, I'm not."

"Good. I always had it with Rachel. Just this small feeling that things were going to end in flames, one way or another. I ignored it the best I could, but in our worst moments the insecurity always came out."

"I'm sorry about Rachel."

"I wish I could say I'm sorry for the amount of times I bring her up, but I'm not. Still, I know it must be hard for you to hear about her."

"I don't want you to worry about me." 

"She deserved better than she got," Chloe said. 

"But at least she had you. Anyone who gets to have you in the way that she had you should know it's a privilege." 

_Whoa, Max, way to sound super gross. Should I clarify that's not what I meant? or just play dumb if Chloe says anything? Surely she can't think I actually meant it that way..._

And it was true, Max didn't mean in  _that_ way. But the way that she meant it was possibly more embarrassing. From listening to Chloe talk about Rachel, it was obvious that she was Chloe's everything. She got to know and love Chloe in every possible way and that was what Max was envious of. 

Chloe opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but no words came out. "Thanks Max," She said finally. 

"Anytime," Max managed to get out, although she was still mentally cringing from the last thing she said. 

_Man, that was awkward as hell. You need to work on talking less, Max Caulfield. Save some things for your journal_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha hey so you know when your work/school/social life gets really crazy? but they all get really crazy at once? I haven't been able to write almost at all this last week, but I am setting a goal to get another chapter up by the end of this weekend. so hold me to that
> 
> edit: that is so not happening hahaha


	11. At Least We're Not 13 Anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 11  
> Mother by Florence + The Machine for Max  
> Lost Kitten by Metric for Chloe

Journal entry for Max

_I wonder if my journal will be gone through after I die. It’s mine for now though so I should get to say what I want without fear._

_Something’s happening between Chloe and me.  Chloe’s always had this ability to make my stomach do flips. Sometimes I can’t even look at her, she’s too much. Especially when she’s not trying to put on her bravado. Earlier today when she was getting her stitches taken out, she was looking away and closing her eyes. It took everything I had not to stare at her._

_I didn’t know one person could make you feel so many things at once. When Chloe isn’t scaring me half to death, she makes me feel so alive. I_ _can’t remember a time when we were younger than I didn’t want to be near her. A lot of the time it feels like I’m reaching too far back, trying to make up lost time I’m never going to get back._ _Those years are gone and sometimes just the thought of that is enough to make me want to get in bed and not ever get out._

Max set her journal down and let a few tears run down her cheek soundlessly. It was about ten at night, Chloe was in the shower and Max was sitting on Chloe bed’s.

Chloe tapped gently on her door, asking to come in.

“Yeah,” Max called out gently.

“I think it’s time for a dye job,” Chloe said, oblivious to Max’s current emotional state. Chloe took the towel off her head and shook out her damp hair, which had faded to a dull, barely there pastel blue.

“What?” Max asked, looking up. “Oh, yeah.”

“Maybe I’ll change it up this time. Go for something different? What would you think about a dark purple?” Chloe asked.

“No, you should keep it the same. I like your blue.”

Chloe laughed, “That’s easy enough. I think I have dye left over still. We could redo it in the morning.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

“You could help me put it in.”

“Oh, no, Chloe, I’m sure I’ll mess it up.”

“You literally can’t. That’s the great thing about it. You just put it on there and comb it through."

“I'm sure I could find a way.”

“Listen, Max, I used to have Rachel help me all the time. I always miss part of the back if I don’t have someone helping me.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Max said.

“Is everything okay?” Chloe asked, finally catching onto what was happening with Max.

“I just, it's hard sometimes to stop myself from thinking about how much time we've lost. We’ve lost so much time,” Max said, just below a whisper.

“Hey, no. We’re so young, Max. I promise. We have no idea how young we are. We’ll have time. We’ll make it up, if you want.” Chloe let the doubt seep back into her voice on that last sentence but before that, it was the Chloe that gave Max butterflies.

_I wish I could make her feel the way she makes me feel_

Max leaned into Chloe and hugged her. “Of course I want to. It’s you and me, Chloe.”

“Good to know,” Chloe joked. 

When Max let go, Chloe got up to turn the light off, but the both of them laid on top of the covers for a while before going to sleep.

“When I was therapy, my therapist recommended I start meditation,” Chloe said, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Isn’t that just when you sit and try to think about nothing?” Max asked.

“I think, eventually, you are supposed to get to that point, but for me, she told me to think of like I was sitting on the edge of a busy intersection and my thoughts were the cars. I was supposed to see them, hear them, but let them pass me by and not get in the car. I'm telling you this because I can see you getting in the car with your guilty thoughts."

“What if I can't not get in the car?”

“If you stay guilty then I’m going to stay angry and I think at this point we both know that’s not going to get us anywhere,”  The words Chloe said were direct in their meaning, but her voice was still soft and comforting

“Okay,” Max said. She inspired in the moment and reached blindly for Chloe’s hand. Found easily in the dark, Chloe’s hand was freezing cold.

“I think you have circulation problems, Price,” Max said, letting her eyes close.

“Um, yeah, maybe,” Chloe said, clearly taken aback.

Max tested herself and Chloe again by giving Chloe’s hand a little squeeze, because she wasn’t sure if Chloe was just putting up with her or if she actually liking having Max’s hand.

Chloe squeezed Max’s hand back and the two of them drifted to sleep without another word. 

...

Max woke up in the morning to sound of Chloe romping about, seeming to be running up and down the stairs.

Max rolled onto her side to see the alarm clock read 9:16. She got of bed, still somewhat groggy, but too curious to see what was happening to go back to sleep.

Max looked into to bathroom to find it covered in various plastic bags and what looked like one plastic poncho.

“Chloe?” Max called down stairs.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Chloe said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs and then dashing back up then, holding a small stool. “It’s hair dyeing time.”

“Like I could sleep with all the noise you were making,” Max said, jokingly.

“Oh, sorry.”

Max laughed. “It’s fine. Show me the magic.”

“Do you care about those clothes?” Chloe asked first.

Max looked herself up and down in the bathroom mirror. “Not particularly.”

“Excellent. Joyce and step shit lose their minds when I get dye on anything on the bathroom. Thus, the thin layer of plastic that now covers the bathroom.”

Chloe pulled the dye out of the vanity and started squeezing the remains into a designated bowl. Next, she puts in a bit of conditioner in with the dye.

“These are you for you,” Chloe said, handing Max a pair of gloves. “But do not be fooled, you will get dye on you somewhere no matter how hard you try to keep it off you.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“First, we must smother me in vaseline.”

Max had a confused look on her face, so Chloe explained, “It keeps the dye from staining my forehead, ears, neck, etc, etc,”

“Oh, okay, I got you.”  

Chloe pulled the back of her hair up into a little ponytail so the back of her neck was exposed.

"Just put it anywhere dye might get that isn't hair." Max started to delicately place the jelly.

“I wish we had gotten to do this when we were kids. Can you imagine how much fun we would have had?” Max asked.

“I’m having fun now,” Chloe said with a huge grin on her face.

“Yeah, me too. I just wish I could have dyed my hair with you, so it wouldn’t seem like I’m copying you.”

“Max Caulfield, what color do you want to dye your hair?” Chloe asked, delighted.

“I don’t know. I think a nice pastel purple would look good. Or a baby pink,”

Chloe pursed her lips. “I’m going to try to ignore how non punk those colors are.”

Max laughed. “What did you think I was going to say? Flaming red?”

“Ew no, red is such a beginner color. Most people with that dark red shade don’t even have to bleach. It honestly just shows lack of creativity and commitment.”

“I had no idea,” Max said, trying to keep her laughs in. _Even when she’s a dork about punk rock things, she’s still a dork_ “Why don’t you run me through the acceptable hair colors?”

“Blue, always, Hot pink can be okay, depending on how it’s done, same goes for bright purple, orange and green. Trends are always a no go, meaning no pastels, no silver, and for the love of god no fucking ombres.”  Chloe seemed to check herself for a moment. “I mean, people can and should do what they want but those styles can’t be considered edgy or punk. Hair dye is unfortunately a lot like tattoos these days. Everyone’s done it.”

“So tell me, what is real punk?” Max said, finishing the last of Chloe’s neck.

“Anything done out of pain,” Chloe said. She managed to hang onto her straight face for a few seconds before laughing and breaking.

“You are so dramatic,” Max said, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, but get this, the conditioner makes my hair _super_ soft, wait till you feel it,” Chloe said.

Chloe and Max washed off their hands and then put their gloves on, after Chloe was sufficiently vaseline-ed.

“Do you have anything to apply it?” Max asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nope!” Chloe said, as she dipped her fingers into the bowl and started spreading it onto the front layers of her hair.

Max hesitantly followed Chloe’s lead and dipped her hand into the dye mixture.

She worked it into Chloe’s hair methodically, surprisingly enjoying every aspect of it. The conditioner made the whole room smell nice and Chloe’s hair was so easy to comb through and the bright vibrant blue was beautiful to look at.

When the dye was all used up and every inch of Chloe’s head had been thoroughly covered, they both had managed to get hair dye on them, Chloe on her shoulder and Max on her foot. But nothing on any of the plastic meant to protect the furniture.

“Now what?” Max asked.

“We leave it in for about half an hour while I look like literal white trash,” Chloe said, wrapping a plastic grocery bag around her head.

“What’s the plastic for?”

“Mostly to make sure I don’t stain anything, but it also keeps the dye m-, it keeps the dye from drying.”

“Thank you for not using that word I hate.”

“You’re welcome,” Chloe said, pursing her lips to keep from smiling.  
  
The two of them then went downstairs to watch some Tv while the time passed. 

"I feel like we haven't been able to do anything normal like this in years," Max said, during a comercial break. 

"Yeah, I mean it felt like for a while there searching for Rachel and hunting down Jeffershit was our new normal." 

"I'm really glad that's all over," Max said, still nauseous at the memory. 

"Amen to that sister." 

While Chloe seemed to watch TV, Max watched Chloe. 

"You look really old, you know that?" Max asked suddenly, noticing the way Chloe has grown into herself. No longer an awkward preteen but some kind of adult.

"Obviously. That's why we're dyeing my hair. It keeps me looking young," Chloe said sarcastically. 

"No, I just mean that you look grown up. You're like, a woman." 

Chloe laughed then. "I'm only 19, Max,"

"Yeah, but you're not 13 anymore." 

"Thank fucking christ for that." 

Max shut up for a minute, realizing that maybe she wasn't making any sense, but then Chloe said, "No, I get what you mean, I look normal to myself, obviously, but you, you look like you've grown into an actual responsible grown-up." 

"Yeah, well you've got a sleeve! And a whole new punk thing to own. I've always been a hipster." 

"True, but I think we both stayed the same, in some ways. Where it counts, we stayed the same. "

"Yeah," Max said thoughtfully.

 A moment of silence passed between them before Chloe said, "I'm starving, are you hungry?" 

"I could eat."

"Let me go rinse my hair out real quick and then we can go to Two Whales. Joyce told me last night that the place is running better than ever."

 

"Sounds good, Chloe," Max said. 

"Be back before you know it."

...

When the girls were ready to leave, Chloe's hair was still wet and lowkey dripping with blue water. 

"At least put a hat on," Max asked, exasperated, having lost the fight to have her blowdry her hair before they left the house. 

"What ever you say, Max," Chloe said, putting on her dark blue beanie. 

The two of them got in Chloe's truck and sped out of the neighborhood too fast, as always. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh this chapter was ready two days ago but it was sloppy as hell and needed editing. 
> 
> I want to say that while I'm still completely commited to finishing this story, the main reason I started writing this fanfiction at this time was so that maybe I would feel motivated to work on my own fiction and holy shit I actually am writing for my own characters again. I've wanted to write this fanfiction for a while, don't get me wrong, but now was the perfect time to do it and it's doing exactly what I wanted it to. it has allowed me to write about my favorite fictional couple while keeping my writing musle in use. but now that I am working on my own stuff again, you can probably expect updates to be once or twice a week, at most. 
> 
> also just so you know, the next chapter is gonna be more from Chloe's POV and I'm really excited for you guys to read it. thank you for reading this far :)


	12. Pricefield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 12  
> More For Me by Tegan & Sara for Chloe  
> Cancer cover by Twenty One Pilots for Max

“Blood, Max, I want blood,” Chloe declared, loud and full of fury yet again.

Max and Chloe had just finished their lunch. They had stayed hours after their lunch was over, talking about the dumbest things. Max attempted to catch Chloe up on what everything in Seattle without everything getting too sad, and surprisingly it didn't. Everything was enjoyable until they left to leave and Chloe noticed the plaque on the building signifying the Prescotts’ donation.

“Well, you don’t get to have it,” Max said, sounding like a panicked parents who was denying their kid the candy at the checkout line.

“What’s stopping me?” Chloe said, storming to the car. 

“Me,” Max said, on the verge of tears. 

The sight of Max crying seemed to stop Chloe for a moment and Max took that opportunity. 

“If you go after the Prescotts, the only thing that’s gonna happen is that you’re gonna get hurt and that’s gonna hurt me. The Prescotts will get what’s coming to them, I promise, but it’s not on us to deliver it.” 

“And what about Rachel? What about my Dad? Did they have it coming? The Prescotts are going to stay in their ivory tower unless someone does something about it.”

“What exactly do you want to do about it?” 

“For starters, I want those fucking plaques down,” Chloe said, ready to get shot down again. It felt like Max and her had been circling around each other, neither of them willing to give an inch. 

Chloe stared Max down, trying to predict with she would say next. 

“Do you have access to a crowbar?” Max asked, almost sarcastically.

“There’s one in the junkyard,” Chloe said. She never would have guessed that was what Max was going to say.

“Get in the car,” Max said, angrily.  Max’s anger only infected Chloe, even though she was technically getting what she wanted. 

“Fine,” Chloe said. The idea of going back to the junkyard made Chloe’s entire body freeze up, but still, she went. 

When they arrived at the junkyard, Chloe bolted out of the car, walking faster than Max’s legs could run. 

Max lost Chloe at one of the twists and turns, but couldn’t make the choice of left or right before Chloe emerged from seemingly nowhere with a crowbar clenched in her fist, white knuckled. 

Max grabbed Chloe’s wrist to stop her from marching back to the car. 

“You know we have to wait for it to get dark out, right?” Max asked.

Chloe looked at the horizon. The sun was just barely beginning to set. Chloe nodded, teeth clenched. 

They rode back to the house with the crowbar sitting awkwardly between them.

"Why are you doing this?" Chloe asked, confused. She didn't understand why Max was allowing this. 

"I know I didn't know Rachel, but I know you and I love you and I know that they hurt you. That hurts me too, Chloe. I don't want you to think that I think that any of what has happened to you has been fair. And if you want to blame the Prescotts, you should. I'm just not gonna allow you to take them on by yourself. You've done too much on your own already. You need backup." 

"You still know this is a dumb idea, right?" 

"This is a very dumb idea. But you're not the only one who needs to let the rage out every once in a while, Chloe."

When they got back, David’s car was sitting in the driveway. Chloe took the crowbar and threw it under the seat.

They walked up to the house, braced to be confronted. 

“Hey there, girls,” Joyce said, from the kitchen. She was cooking dinner on her bare feet and David was sitting on the couch, looking at something on his phone.

_ Fucking figures. The woman cooks all damn day, why not cook at home too and let the slob sit on the couch?  _ Chloe thought.

“Hey, Mom,” Chloe said, trying to keep herself under control. 

“What have you two been up to?” Joyce asked. 

“Nothing really,” Chloe said. She looked back at Max who was writing something on her phone.

“Sorry,” Max said, looking up, “My parents wanted to know the same thing.” 

“It’s a little early for dinner isn’t it?” Chloe asked. 

“You redid your hair,” Joyce said, rubbing a part of Chloe’s forehead that had gotten slightly stained. 

“Yeah, we did it this morning,” Chloe said, shaking her mother off. “Is there a reason we’re eating early?” 

“Well, David and I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch today, so we thought we’d make it early. I hope that’s not a problem with you, Chloe,” Joyce said, with an edge of authority. 

“No, it’s fine, I was just curious.” 

“Where were you, by the way?” David asked casually. 

“We were at the beach,” Max answered. 

“Yeah,” Chloe confirmed. “Where were you?” Chloe asked, in a not so casual tone. 

“Out looking for a job,” David said. “Blackwell isn’t scheduled to be back up and running for at least another month and a half but I need something to do in the meantime.”

“Do you have any idea what the hold up is? I mean it feels like they’ve been working night and day to get everything back up and running. All those poor kids. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be ripped out your home like that,” Joyce said. 

“I don’t know honestly, from the outside, it looks completely rebuilt. Better than ever, even.”

“Well, I for one will be thrilled when there’s no more reminders that storm ever happened. I’ve never been so scared in my life,” Joyce said, shaking her head. 

A moment of silence passed between the four of them.

“Excuse me,” Max said, running upstairs. Chloe heard a door slam shut.

“Is she okay?” Joyce whispered. 

“I don’t know,” Chloe said, frowning, looking away.

“Go check on her,” Joyce said, sounding worried as the sounds of Max throwing up echoed down stairs. 

Chloe nodded and went up the stairs. She tapped the bathroom gently. 

“Hey, Max? You doing okay?”

“I’m fine!” Max said, sounding weak. 

“You don’t seem fine,” Chloe said opening the door. 

Max was sitting on the floor next to the toilet. She looked paler than ever and she had a small glimmer on her forehead from sweat. 

“Jesus, Max, we haven’t been licking swing sets again, have we?” Chloe asked, trying not to sound horrified. 

“Fuck you,” Max said, strained. She stood up and wiped the corner of her mouth on her sleeve. 

"Whoa, laungue," Chloe mocked. 

Max looked up, glaring. "You dared me to lick that swing set."

"I didn't think you'd actually do it!" Chloe smiled lightly. This was once of those arugments they used to have all the time. Did Chloe just dare her or was there some peer pressure involved. 

"This isn't funny." 

"No, actually it's not. Why are you sick?"

Max picked up her phone and showed the screen to Chloe. It was a list of businesses in Arcadia Bay.

“What’s that?” 

“It’s a list of all the places we’re gonna have to hit tonight. A list of all the places that would have been destroyed if I what I thought I was choosing...had actually happened.” 

“Technically, they were still destroyed,” Chloe said, trying not to feel hurt by what Max was implying.

“You know what I mean, Chloe.”

“Do you regret what you did?” Chloe asked quietly, not sure exactly what to say going forward.

“No!” Max exclaimed. “I would never regret something like that. I wouldn’t have made that choice…without knowing what I was doing.”

“Then what’s wrong?” 

“I don’t know. Do you think it’s possible that sometimes the right choice can still make you feel sick to your stomach? Like literally sick to your stomach?” 

“Yeah,” Chloe said, thoughtfully.

"I'm feeling better now," Max said. 

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I don't think I'm gonna puke again, if that's what you're asking." 

After a few minutes of collecting themselves, the girls were able to go back down for dinner, which was mostly a silent affair, after Max explained that it had ‘probably just been something she ate out of a vending machine on the boardwalk’.

“I hate lying to your mom,” Max said, once the girls were back in the safety of Chloe’s room. 

“Yeah, well, if you go through with tonight, there’s gonna be a lot more lying to come. They’re not just gonna let us tear down the plaques without consequences.”

“I know. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.” 

“We need an alibi,” Chloe said suddenly. 

“What kind of alibi could you possibly arrange for us to be doing between the hours of midnight and four am?” 

“I don’t know. It’s a shame our crime can’t happen at a more convenient time.”

“What are we even going to do with the plagues once we have them?” Max asked. 

“We could bury them where we found Rachel,” Chloe said darkly.

“Fuck no!” Max exclaimed. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or not, but we are not doing that.”

“I can’t tell if I’m being serious or not. I still can't believe you agreed to this. ”

"I can't believe I agreed to this, but something had to happen. We were never just going to sit around and if this keeps you from physically going after a Prescott, then it will be worth it." 

"But still we need someplace to ditch them. How lame would it be if we just left them on the doorstep?"

"Why don’t you think it over while I answer some emails? I have one from Kate I still haven’t replied, not to mention a hundred from my parents and a couple million from Warren.”

_ Hey lucky Max, she’s got friends to email. All my friends are either dead or ignoring me for people that aren’t here.  _ Chloe allowed herself to wallow for just minute before letting go of that thought process.  _Like a car passing by..._

Chloe could feel herself reeving up to say something horrible to Max, but she was able to hold it back and just say nothing at all. Chloe clenched her teeth and laid out on her bed, eyes closed. 

_ We could always just throw away them into the ocean. Let the water swallow and hide their embarrassment. We should leave a note, a big F you to the prescotts. Like, ‘you cannot pay off arcadia bay, you fucking pigs,” or something like that. I’m sure Max will have a better idea. She’s always been pretty decent with words.  _ _ I hate words;I want to throw the ones I don’t use out. Erase their meaning from mine and everyone else’s vocab. I wish I could say the right thing sometime. For Max’s sake, if not my own.  _

  
...

“Hey,” Max said, shaking Chloe awake. “It’s time to destroy property, sleepy head.” 

Chloe opened her eyes slowly. “What time is it?” She asked, yawning. 

“It just a little after midnight.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?” 

“You were zonked. And I got to IM with Kate and my mom for a bit. It seemed like a win.”

“Fun times,” Chloe said getting up and walking over to her closet. “Do you have enough black to wear, Caulfield?” 

“Look at me Chloe,” Max said, laughing.

Chloe turned her head from her fashion hole to Max, who was already decked out in head to toe black, including leather gloves. 

“Damn,” Chloe said, trying not to look too hard. 

“I also made a map and schedule of the business we can hit tonight.” Max handed Chloe a drawn out grid.

“Jesus fuck, how long did this take?” Chloe asked, inspecting the map.

“It took about fifteen minutes to draw it, but I was planning it in my head throughout dinner.” 

“So that’s why you seemed quiet,” Chloe said, stripping off her blue jeans and putting on pair of black sweatpants.

“Yeah, too much thinking to do,” Max laughed nervous. 

Chloe traded her navy blue beanie for a black one and they were suddenly good to go. 

“Alright, Max. Let’s do this.”

They climbed out the window then and into Chloe’s car.

“What happens if we get caught?” Max asked. 

“You’re worried about that now?” Chloe asked, laughing darkly. 

“I mean, aren’t you?” 

“What’s life without some excitement every once and awhile? Besides, we won’t get caught. Not if we’re smart about this.” 

“None of the places I wrote down have security cameras, though that might change after tonight.” 

“That’s alright. We don’t have to do it more than once. It’ll send a message regardless.”

“I thought the whole point of this was to take them down,” Max said. 

“It was... but I’m realizing how stupid that was. They’ll just put them back up. But it will let them know Arcadia Bay hasn’t forgotten.” 

“You mean Pricefield hasn’t forgotten?” Max asked, smiling. 

“What?” Chloe asked, confused. 

“Us. You know, Price and Caulfield. Pricefield.”  

“That’s cute, Caulfield,” Chloe said. “First stop?”

“Beau Kay, the florist on 98th.” 

Chloe pulled over a few blocks away from the florist. “Just so people don’t see my car again like last time.” 

“Did we ever decide what we’re going to do with the plaques?” Max asked, getting out. The streets were vacant but dimly lit.

“I don’t know. I think it would be kind of weird to just leave them on the doorstep. We could take them to the junk yard.”

“A little morbid, don’t you think?” Max asked. 

“We wouldn’t have to put them exactly where Rachel was,” Chloe said softly. 

“You’re right. It’s poetic.” 

“I was also thinking we could leave a note.” 

“What kind of note?” Max asked cautiously. 

“I don’t know. I just don’t want any of this to be up for interpretation.” While carrying a crowbar, Chloe still had the same swing in her step of not giving a shit. 

"I think a note could be incriminating. But I get where you're coming from."

"Yeah. They'll probably get the idea."

"How could they not?"

When they approached the building, there was no one in sight. Chloe slipped the crowbar under the plaque and pried hard, to no avail. 

“This shit is really on there,” Chloe said, putting a foot up on the wall to get some leverage. 

After a couple more seconds of straining, the plaque popped off like it was nothing and set Chloe flying into the streets. 

“Whoa! Look at that, Max!” Chloe exclaimed, picking up the plaque. 

“Shushh!” Max said. “Tone it down. And maybe don’t say my name.” 

Chloe was unfazed. “That is so fucking awesome!” She said.

“Where to next, Max?” Chloe said, swinging the crowbar in circular motions. 

“Two Whales,” Max said, cheerfully. 

“Well then let’s go.” 

The two of them almost ran back to the truck. Once they were in the truck, Chloe tossed the plaque into the glove box and out of sight. 

“One down and,” Chloe started. “How many left to go?” 

“16,” Max said. 

“How did you get that number?” 

“That’s as many we we could have possibly fit in tonight, and all of the places on the list were destroyed completely and desperately needed that sweet sweet cash.”

“And the Prescotts needed their sweet sweet recognition. They couldn’t just do a good deed. Of course, even without the plaques they would have found some way to hold this donation over everyone’s heads.” 

“It’s despicable, Chloe. Any trouble we get in for this, it will all have been worth it. Although, I think it would be better it remained a mystery. Ooooh, or if we had several people take credit for it. You know? Like everyone in the town band together in one giant act of solidarity against the Prescotts.”

“Ha, not gonna happen. Lovely thought, but not gonna happen,” Chloe said. “You missed everything Max,” Chloe said sadly. “The Prescotts took over this town and the amount of people they have in their pockets is unbelievable.” 

“Not your mom though,” 

“Yeah, not Joyce.” Chloe pulled into the parking lot of Two Whales and they both sat for a moment before getting out.

“How would Joyce feel if she knew we were doing this?” Max asked. 

“It doesn’t really much matter how she feels. She’s married to a security guard.” Chloe got out of the truck then and let the resentment she felt show in the way she slammed the car door. 

They walked right up to the door, where they had been about nine hours before. The moon was full and casted a shadow on everything they did. 

“You want to do this one?” Chloe asked, extending the crowbar to Max. 

“I can try…” Max said, taking the crowbar hesitantly. She worried she wasn’t strong enough, or tall enough. Or just generally brave enough. 

She planted her foot right on the wall, like she’d seen Chloe do and after a few seconds of pulling, it popped off and sent Max stumbling backwards into Chloe’s arms, who was thankfully there to catch her. 

“Whoa, nice one, Max,” Chloe said, still holding on to Max. 

Max turned around so she was facing Chloe. “That was incredible!” Max flung herself back into Chloe’s arms for a hug. 

“I’ve never done anything so illegal in my life!” Max whispered. "And with no rewind!" 

"Yeah, well welcome to the party," Chloe said, trying to contain the smile she felt coming on. 

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so bad at this i'm so sorry lmao. I hope you all enjoyed this hella late update. I WILL BE BETTER I PROMISE


	13. Sunshine is Days Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 13  
> Fake Happy by Paramore for Max  
> What's Wrong by Pvris for Chloe

When it was almost time to end the night, Chloe and Max decided to add on one last stop.

“What would you said if I suggested we swing by blackwell?” Chloe asked. “David said it looks finished, so I’d bet you there’s already a plaque up.”

“Sounds like a fine idea to me,” Max said, smiling wide.

This night had let her feel like she a part of something again, but more importantly, she felted connected to Chloe.

Max still didn’t really feel safe with her relationship to Chloe. It wasn’t like when they were younger when the connection was just there, still and resting. Now it was like, it was like a butterfly. Always letting you get close but then flying away right before you’re close enough to catch it.

_ Something is always slipping away…  _ Max thought as Chloe pulled up to Blackwell.

There were several rows of “Caution” tape around the site, which was off putting because campus looked exactly the same to Max. It was chilling to be there again, when it was so vacant and so clearly not welcoming.

“Alright, we need to do this fast. We’ve got maybe half an hour before the sun starts coming up,” Chloe said.

“Let’s go then,” Max said, hopping out of the car.  

“Always so eager,” Chloe muttered, following behind.

Unlike all the other building they had hit earlier in the night, it felt somehow inevitable that they would get caught or that this stop would be the undoing of them.

Max didn’t care. She jumped easily over the caution tape and continued for the main entrance to the building. And without fail, there it was. Bright and shiny.

Max was left staring it down for a couple of seconds while Chloe, who was holding the crowbar, caught up.

“You wanna do it?” Chloe asked.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing.”

“We don’t have time to argue about it.” Chloe handed Max the crowbar, but the plaque was higher up than a lot of the other ones, so Chloe tried to help.

After a few seconds of them both prying to no avail, Max said, “Maybe if we go from the side?” 

"Good idea, Caulfield.”

Chloe repositioned the bar and the plaque popped off so quickly the crowbar flew towards Chloe’s face, hitting her almost square in the eye.

“Shit!” Chloe exclaimed, dropping the crowbar and putting both of her hands on her face.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Max asked.

"I’ve had worse. Fuck, I just really wish we still had your rewind.”

Max tried to rewind just to see, but nothing happened.

“I’m sorry, Chloe,” Max said feeling guilty.

“Don’t feel guilty for not being super, Max. Are you okay to drive home?”

“Yeah I can drive.”

The ride home was silent, apart from the occasional swearing from Chloe.

When they arrived home, Max was sure to park quietly, turn the headlights off a couple houses before they actually reached Chloe's and didn't drive over five miles an hour.

“What are we supposed to do with these?” Chloe asked, looking down at her feet. The ground was covered in over a dozen plaques. 

“We’ll have to stash them some other night,” Max said. “Do you have anywhere we could put them tonight?” 

“The top of my closet will have to do,” Chloe said, picking some up and giving Max the ones she couldn’t fit in her hands. 

Climbing back through Chloe’s window wasn’t without difficulty but they managed. 

“Can you find the cord to the rainbow lights and plug them in?” Chloe asked, once they were both in the room. 

“Sure,” Max said, happy for something to do. It was about five in the morning and she felt too hyper to go to sleep and she hoped it was the same for Chloe. She didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts right now. 

Once the lights were on, Max could see Chloe reaching up into her closet to remove what looked like an old shoebox. Chloe placed her plaques inside and then extended the box to Max, who dropped the plaques she had been holding onto into the box. 

“Jesus, Chloe, your eye is already really swollen.”

Chloe tentatively reached up to touch her own face, “You’re not wrong,” Chloe said softly. She turned around and put the the box back up into her closet. 

“Would you be a dear and run down stairs to get me an ice pack, and maybe some snacks? All that criminal activity has me starved.” 

“Of course. I’ll be right back,” Max said. She slipped out of her shoes quickly and then opened the door to Chloe’s room and then left. 

Max was careful to skip the loudest steps on the stairs and just generally tread lightly. The adrenaline in Max’s blood stream was still pumping and it made every sound in the old house sound fatal. Someone was surely behind her at every turn.

_ There is no one bad in the house, Max. The worst thing that could happen would be Joyce or David finding you, questioning you and you not being able to rewind your way into the right response.  Take a deep breath.  _  
  


A car outside drove by and the headlights splashed onto walls, making Max jump and clutch her chest.  Max quickly grabbed the ice pack, a packet of frozen strawberries, and some snacks, a bag of tortilla chips. 

Halfway to Chloe’s room, Max could smell the pot. 

“Jesus, Chloe,” She said, opening the door.  She tossed the bag in the general direction of Chloe, who was sitting in on the bed. 

Chloe caught the bag midair. “Look Max, left hand catch,” She waved the bag around, and subsequently the joint that was in her right hand. 

“Are you at all worried about Joyce and David?” Max asked. 

“David is on massive sleeping pills for the PTSD and Joyce doesn’t care. If she knows David isn’t going to know about her allowing it, she doesn’t care.” 

“Okay, well, do you mind putting it out? For me?” Max asked. Despite what Chloe said, she couldn’t help but still feel paranoid.

“If you really want me to,” Chloe said sadly, putting the joint out on her Oregon ash tray.

While Chloe ate and iced her eye, Max got dressed in some pajamas. The black jeans and t-shirt felt dirty after only a night of wearing them. 

“What are we supposed to say about your eye in the morning?” Max asked, once she was done changing. She had put on her Jane Doe t-shirt along with some plain grey sweat pants. 

“Shit, I hadn’t thought about that yet. If Rachel were here, I’d make her cover it with makeup and it would look awesome.” 

“How many times did Rachel have to cover bruises for you?” Max asked, a little steel in her voice. 

“Are you okay?” Chloe asked, turning to face Max. 

Max crossed her arms. “I'm just, I feel like it's my fault. I feel like it's my fault that we are where we are. I don't know you or you life and you don't really know mine.”

“You weren’t even in town when she went missing,” Chloe said, confused. 

“That’s the problem. Maybe if we had stayed in touch or if I had contacted you sooner, I don’t know, I don’t know. There’s so much I just don’t know. It’s killing me.”

Chloe scooted to the edge of the bed to where she could reach Max. Chloe extended an arm and grabbed Max’s hand and pulled her to sit down. 

“Max, like I said earlier, we have time to play catch up,” Chloe said strongly but then softer, “I like being able to learn about you but then also, know you at the same time, you know? Like, being with you feels like we haven’t missed a beat but we surprise each other.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Max said, not looking at Chloe. 

“Hey, “ Chloe said. “Max, look at me.” 

“What?” Max asked, finally looking up. 

“We’ve got time,” Chloe said, soft. 

Max had had just about enough of Chloe trying to be gentle. 

“Why would you want to spend your time with someone who isn’t even super?” Max asked, angry. 

“What?” Chloe asked. 

“Chloe, I can’t tell you how worthless I feel now that my powers are gone. I could never be Rachel and now I can’t even be the mutant best friend.” 

Chloe’s mouth was left hanging open and it was a second before she could even get her responce out. 

“Max, I could give less of a shit about whether or not you still had your powers, yeah they were cool but I thought it was cooler than we were the only ones who knew about them. They made me feel special to you again.” 

“They made me feel special to you again too,” Max said quietly. 

“But that’s never going to go away, is it? Those godawful memories of hunting jeffershit will always be there.” 

“Unfortunately,” Max said. 

“Everything will be okay,” Chloe said. "I have a hard time believing that usually, but if you're by my side, then it's true."

Okay," Max said. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Your eye looks so bad,” Max said, changing the subject. 

“Does it look as bad as it feels?” Chloe asked, sarcastic again. 

“Are you tired? Cause I’m not,” Max said.

“I am actually, but I can stay up if you want me to."

“No, no, you should rest. I’ll stay up and think up an excuse for your eye.” 

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked. 

"Yeah, you should try and sleep a little." 

"We both can try," Chloe said. 

"I'll try." 

Chloe kicked her boots off and scooted up the bed to get under the covers. 

"Do you want anything to help you sleep?" Chloe asked. 

Max frowned. 

"Over the counter stuff, Jesus."

"Oh yeah, sure," Max said.

Chloe handed Max a bottle from underneath the bed. Max reached for her water bottle from the floor and took two of the pills without question. 

"Sleep tight, my fellow criminal," Chloe said. 

Max laughed, "Goodnight Chloe."

Max stared up at the ceiling for a long time, feeling the panic of tomorrow invade.  _There is no way in hell that we get away with this_

Soon though, the sleeping pills took over and pushed out the panic, for which Max was grateful. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess whos back
> 
> it's me
> 
> the asshole who lies on the internet about when they will be updating


	14. Suspects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter 14  
> Halo by Cage the Elephant for Max  
> Right Before My Eyes by Cage the Elephant for Chloe

The first thing Max did in the morning was scream. She was in that stage of not really awake but definitely not asleep either. She rolled over to open her eyes to Chloe’s face, which had developed a massive black eye and it scared Max into being wide awake.  

“Max, what is it?” Chloe asked, waking up fast. “Oh, fuck,” Chloe said, touching her own eye.

“Your eye just startling me is all,” Max said quietly. Chloe got out of bed then to look in her mirror.

“Jesus christ!” Chloe said, looking at her reflection. Her eye color was similar to that of a plum.

“What the hell are we gonna tell your mom?” Max asked from the bed.

“We got in a fight?” Chloe suggested.

“Oh my god, no,” Max said, putting her face in her hands. “She’ll never believe that.”

Chloe picked up a pair of aviators and put them on, but they didn’t hide the bruising on her upper cheek bone.

“I mean, it won’t be the first time she sees me with a black eye."

“Are you sure that it wouldn’t be too suspicious?” Max asked. 

“I don’t know. It definitely would not help us, in any conceivable way. I just know we need to ditch those plaques sooner rather than later.”

“We should have just done it last night.”

Both Chloe and Max froze when they heard the front door open. Max noticed the time then, it was five in the afternoon.

“Girls! I’m home,” Joyce called.

“Fuck,” Chloe whispered.

“What do we do?” Max asked, panicked.

“You go down there and be social,” Chloe said, pushing Max.

“What if she asks me about you?”

“Just say I stormed off or something!” Chloe whispered. “Seriously, Max. She’s gonna come up here looking if we don’t respond.”

_Fuck_

Max opened the door and sprinted down the stairs.

“Hey Joyce!” Max said too fast the second she saw Joyce.

“Hey there Max. Chloe upstairs?”

“She left to go to a friend’s place.”

“Her truck is still in the drive way?” Joyce asked, confused.

“Justin came to pick her up, I didn’t feel well so I didn’t go.”

“Oh Justin, it’s been a while since Chloe mentioned him ,” Joyce said, sounding surprised. She stepped towards Max then and put her hand to her forehead.

“God Lord Max, you are burning up.”

_It’s just my anxiety, Joyce. It makes me sweat bullets_

"Here sit down,"

“Okay,” Max said, weak willed.

“I cannot believe Chloe sometimes. How could she just leave her sick friend to fend for herself?”

_Shit. I cannot be getting Chloe in more trouble with her mom_

“I really wasn’t feeling this bad when she left and I insisted. I thought it would be good for her to see some of her other friends since she hasn’t really seen them recently.”

“Did she give you any idea as to when she’d be getting back?”

“No clue,” Max said. “How was work?” _Good job Max, ask innocent, stupid, fucking questions. She’ll never know the vandalism was you!_ Max thought bitterly.

 “Well, the first thing I had to do this morning was talk to police. Someone tore down the majority of the Prescott foundation plaques on the buildings they funded.”

“Oh, wow,” Max said.  _Kill me now_

“Yeah the police wanted to know if was a part of some kind of union against them.”

“Are you?”  Max asked, jokingly. She hoped to get a laugh out of Joyce but instead got a sharp sigh.

“I sure as hell ain’t with them and we’ll leave it at that.”

 “That’s horrible,” Max said. “Who could do such a giant act of vandalism?”   _At this point I’m just playing a parody of who I used to be. The girl who thought the world was a fair place, more or less._

“I don’t know Max, but Chloe better get her ass home or I’m gonna start thinking it was her.”

 _Fuck_  

“Excuse me Joyce, I have to use the bathroom.”  Max sprinted up the stairs then and busted into Chloe’s room. 

Chloe was standing next to her vanity, seemingly doing her makeup.

“Chloe! You need to get your ass out there,” Max said, breathless. 

“Chill out, I’m almost done.”   

Max crossed her arms.

“Volia,” Chloe declared turning to Max, black eye no longer there.

“Whoa,” Max said.

“Stage makeup baby. Rachel taught me how to do it.”

“Joyce thinks you’re out with Justin and I’m not feeling well so I didn’t come with.”

“What? I wouldn’t leave if you were sick,” Chloe said, annoyed.

“I didn’t know what to say Chloe, but you need to sneak out to the front down now because she’s joking about you stealing the plaques.”

“How the fuck did that come up?” Chloe asked, shocked.

“Apparently the police were at Two Whales this morning asking questions.”

“Fuck that was fast. Okay go back down stairs, I’ll be at the front door shortly.”

Max left then and tried to calm herself as she hopped down the stairs.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Max?” Joyce asked from the kitchen.

“Ummm, I should probably sit down.”

“Let me get you some tea.”

Max had a seat at the dining table and rested her head on her hands. She was actually starting to feel sick. _The punishment always fits the crime._

Just then the front door opened. “Thanks for the ride Justin!” Chloe yelled loudly.

Max felt her heart beating fast in reaction to the door opening. She should have known Chloe would be coming through but at first reaction she thought it was David or Officer Berry and some of  his co workers coming to search to house.

But when Max saw Chloe, her heart calmed. A little.

“There you are Chloe,” Joyce said, pouring the tea.

“Here I am.” Chloe had changed her clothes into a more innocent looking outfit of ripped blue jeans and a clean white t-shirt. Besides the makeup covering the black eye, Chloe was fresh faced, no smudged eyeliner to be seen. The swelling in her eye had gone down over the night but it still there if you looked closely. Max was just hoping that no one else would.

“Where have you been? Max has been here alone and sick.”

“I was with Justin. I wasn't gone for very long at all.”

“Really, Joyce, it’s okay. I only slept while Chloe was gone,” Max said.

“If you say so,” Joyce said, not at all convinced it was okay. "Do you want any tea Chloe?" 

"I'd love some," Chloe said, fake cheerful. Max wished there could be some way for her to telepathically tell Chloe she was putting it on a little thick.   

Chloe sat down next to Max, bumping Max's knee with hers. When she did this, Max looked up and Chloe tried to give an encouraging nod.  

The two of them drank their tea mostly in silence, only interrupted by Joyce who was making small talk until she asked if Max and Chloe had dinner plans. 

"N-" Max started to say

"Actually, Max and I have dinner reservations tonight," Chloe said, through what seemed to be clenched teeth. 

"Oh, okay, where are you going?" Joyce asked, surprised. 

"Costia's"  Chloe said. 

There was silence from Joyce for a good second before Chloe added, "It's outside town."

"Well, just be home by 12," Joyce said finally. 

"We should probably start getting ready then, right Max?"

"Yeah," Max said, still somewhat confused. 

Both of the girls headed up stairs then and once they were in Chloe's room, Max started asking questions, or rather stating facts to try and get information. 

"We don't have dinner reservations."

"No, Costia's doesn't actually take reservations, it's more of dive bar situation only they don't card kids."

"Chloe, I'm not drinking tonight." 

"Perfect, you can us drive home."

"What's going on?" Max asked desperately, grabbing Chloe's arm to get her to face her.  

"She wants us to have dinner with David," Chloe said, sounding disgusted. "She always asks the first time like that, later she moves onto demands."

"Oh, okay. But we can't go to a bar, Chloe. I'm not carrying your slobbering drunk self home." 

"I guess that's fair. But can we just drive until it's time to come back and bury the bodies, I mean plaques," Chloe said sharply. 

"Oh my god, yes fine," Max said, annoyed. "I had almost managed to forget about those."

"They're gonna come asking about us soon, Max."

"Can we talk about it in the car?" Max asked, too worried about Joyce or David overhearing. 

"Yeah. If you don't want to go to a bar, where should we go?" Chloe asked. 

"We should do something fun," Max stated. 

"Like what?" Chloe asked. 

"Mini golf!" Max shouted, excited.

"Fuck to the no," Chloe said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. 

"Lazer tag?" 

"What are we? 15?"

"Fine, we can just drive around until we find something," Max said, frustrated. 

"Hey," Chloe said, pulling Max into a hug. "I'm sorry I'm a bitch. I just, I thought David would be gone after Mom found the cameras," Chloe mumbled into Max's hair. 

"We'll find something fun to do tonight, I promise," Max said. 

"Whatever you say, Max," Chloe said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and making it this far, I promise that things are going to start speeding up soon. I want this fic to feel like it's going at a reasonable pace. like how fast would you actually end up with your former best friend turned current best friend after your other, former best friend whom you also had feelings for is found dead? there's a lot of shit going on is what I'm trying to say. 
> 
>  
> 
> also if anyone wants to talk about Before the Storm with me HIT ME UP


	15. Jealous of a Dead Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for Chapter 15  
> No Care by Daughter for Chloe  
> Come Back For Me by Jaymes Young for Max
> 
> tw: homophobic slur used by chloe in reference to herself

“Nice shirt,” Chloe said, looking up from her phone to see Max wearing her Firewalk shirt.

“Thanks,” Max said, blushing. “Do you mind me borrowing your clothes?” Max asked, hesitantly. “You know you can borrow any of mine, if you wanted.”

Chloe had looked back to her phone and replied this time without looking up. “No offence Max, but I’ll come asking to borrow clothes  from you when I want to be a preppy nerd for halloween,” Chloe laughed.

Max crossed her arms and waited for Chloe to realize she had slightly, only slightly, pissed her off.

“What?” Chloe asked, finally looking up.

“It’s a simple question, Chloe,” Max said, sharply.

“Oh, sorry,” Chloe said, looking Max over.  “Yeah, you borrow my clothes. You always look really good in them. Better than me even.

Max’s face and neck turned red. “Flattery will get you nowhere, Price.”

“It seems it already has,” Chloe said, softly.

“What?” Max asked, not quite sure of what Chloe said.

“Nothing!” Chloe said, standing up from the bed and putting her phone in her back pocket. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I just need to grab a jacket," Max said. 

Chloe walked to her closet and pulled out a leather jacket. 

“Here,” Chloe said. “Might as well complete the look.”

Max took the jacket and immediately noticed that it smelled of cigarettes and beer.

“Have any chokers?” Max asked sarcastically.

“Yeah I do actually. I went through my emo phase when I was fifteen like everyone else.” Chloe said, getting up to dig through her drawers.

“Not everyone went through an emo phase… Also what do you mean by phase?” Max asked, laughing.

“First of all, are you trying to imply that you, Max Caulfield, never had an emo phase?” Chloe asked, now holding several black necklaces.

“No, not really,” Max said, taking the chokers from Chloe.

“Well, if you had, you'd know you’re really only supposed to wear one or two chokers at once.”

“I know that! I just wanna look through them first.”  Max finally settled on the fully studded one. “Will you help me put this one?”

“Sure,” Chloe took the necklace from Max and gently put it on. “How does that feel?”

“Tight.”

“They don’t call it a choker for no reason,” Chloe laughed.

“I guess,” Max said.

“Hey can I do your makeup?” Chloe asked. “It’ll add to the whole aesthetic.”

“I didn’t know you could do makeup. You never wear any.”   _Except when you’re covering up black eyes..._

“Doesn’t mean I never have.” Chloe reached up into her closet and brought down a small makeup bag.

"I mean what's the occasion?" Max asked. 

"The occasion is I want to and best friends do this kind of stuff. Do each other's makeup randomly. Right? That's a thing."

“Where do you want me to sit?” Max asked and then pursed her lips, trying not to smile. 

“Bed, please.”

They both sat down and Chloe started in with an eyeshadow pallette that looked like it was at least a couple years old. 

_Chloe wouldn’t purposely fuck up my face, would she?_

“Close your eyes,” Chloe said. Max shut her eyes and when she was told she could open them, Chloe was handing her a makeup mirror.

“Holy shit,” Max said. Chloe had given Max giant wings but with eyeshadow instead of eyeliner.

“You like?” Chloe asked.

“I look scary,”  Max said, surprised. _And… kind of sexy?_

“I know. It’s good feeling,” Chloe said, smiling wide. “ I thought maybe you’d want to do your own mascara.” Chloe handed Max a tube of mascara.

“Oh yeah, thank you.” Max put the mascara on slowly, not wanting to ruin anything. She wasn’t a stranger to makeup, but she definitely was not a pro.

“Ready for the mosh pit sha-” Max started.

“No,” Chloe said, cutting Max off.  

“That’s fair,” Max said, trying not to smile. “So what are we gonna do tonight, Price?”

“I figured we’d just drive until we find something to do. It’s not like we’re gonna be getting tired any time soon, eh?”

“Okay, that sounds good, but can we get home early enough to stash the plaques?”

“Sure. Here’s an idea, we go into the woods and full on barry then like they’re bodies.”

“No, I think the junk yard was a good idea. Since that’s basically what they are. Junk,” Max said. “If you’re still down with that.”

“So down with that,” Chloe said.

“Okay so we find something fun to do tonight and then we come back, grab the plaques and stash them to end the night?”

“Sounds perfect to me.”

“Shall we then?” Max asked, heading for Chloe’s door.

“Let’s.”

It was just about sunset as Chloe and Max drove out of the neighborhood. It was so beautiful, Max could hardly keep herself from trying to capture it with her phone.

“So, eating something has to be on the agenda, right?” Max asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I kind of just thought we’d drive until we feel like we wanna turn back.”

“We should be back by one thought, right?”

“We’ll have plenty of time to get to the house and then back to the junkyard and then back home.”

“Okay,” Max said. She was still anxious about it, but on some level Max was always anxious.

“I’m serious. Everything will be fine and we won’t get caught. It’ll be great,” Chloe said, sensing her anxiety.

“What if we do get caught?”

“Then we go to jail for destruction of property and I’ll make you my prison wife and everything will still be fine.”

“Very funny, Chlo,” Max said.

Chloe reached over and gently touched Max’s shoulder. “Remember why we did what we did. It was just and necessary," Chloe said firmly. 

“You’re right,” Max said, sighing.

“Of course I am,” Chloe said, rolling her eyes.  “Now what are we in the mood for, in terms of food?”

“I’m not feeling all too hungry right now,” Max said, quietly.

“You’re really stuck on this, aren’t you?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get unstuck.”

“I remember that,” Chloe said quietly. “From before, I mean,” She clarified.

Max laughed softly. “It’s so nice having you _just know_. You just know me. No skeletons you haven’t seen.”

“Oh, I’m sure there’s stuff that happened in Seattle that’s hard for you tell me about or think about,” Chloe replied.

“A couple but nothing defining. I feel like you’re the mystery here, Price,” Max said. She was trying to keep the tone light but she still couldn’t shake the feeling of being more vulnerable? Having someone know you completely and then feeling like you only partly knew them was a terribly revealing feeling.

“Max, I’m an open book. Ask me anything you want,” Chloe said, smiling lightly, as she got on the highway out of Arcadia, 

“When did you dye your hair?”

“I did a blue streak a couple months after I met Rachel. And then shortly after that it was all blue.”

And then Max remembered why she didn’t ask about Chloe’s past. It was covered in Rachel. And Rachel made Max feel a million things at once, sadness at the complete loss of an innocent girl, guilt for not being able to save her from Jefferson the same way she’d been able to save herself and Chloe and even Victoria and countless other girls who were on the list.  But right now it just felt like anger and jealousy? She never figured herself to be the jealous type but here it was.

_God why are you jealous of a dead girl? Is it because Chloe loved Rachel? You know Chloe loves you too, just...not like that.  Not the same._

“Hello? Max-a-million?” Chloe said, after a minute.

“What?” Max asked.

“You dozed off for a second there.”

“Oh, sorry, I was thinking.”

“It’s all cool. Okay, shoot, next question,”

 _Shit, let’s hope this isn’t awkward as hell_  “Are a virgin?” Max asked.

Chloe burst out laughing.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Max said, slightly annoyed.

“No, no, no I didn’t say that. I’m just, the way you asked that was so serious, like we were at a sleepover or something and it my turn during truth or dare.”

“Well, you know the rules of truth or dare. You have to answer.”

“First of all, virginity is a social construct so I’m gonna need you to be a little bit more specific.”

Max rolled her eyes so hard she was worried for a second they were gonna get stuck. “Have you had sex?  Yes or no.”

“No,” Chloe said laughing a little still. “Rachel and I got close a couple times but she was always too tipsy or flat out drunk for me to allow it to it to fully get to that point and when she was sober it never came close." 

“I’m sorry,” Max said instantly.

“You know it’s not her fault, right?” Chloe asked softly.

“What?” Max asked confused.

“Her parents, they didn’t like that she was friends with the dropout dyke, can’t imagine what they would have done if they suspected we were more than friends. The closet is a cruel and cold place to live. I don’t blame her for the drinking,” Chloe said softly. “So no, Rachel and I never did and I never did with anyone else.”

“How many like, girlfriends have you had?”

“Just Rachel I guess, if you could call her that. We never really said the word girlfriend out loud.  I did have a boyfriend... or two but we never,” Chloe shuddered.

“So... are you a lesbian?" Max asked. 

Chloe was silent for a moment before Max said, “If that’s really inappropriate and rude for me to ask, you can just forget I said it.”

“No, it’s okay, I was just thinking. I don’t lesbian is right. But neither is bi or whatever. I just know Rachel is the only person I’ve ever had strong, I mean like, strong feelings for, sexual or romantic.”

“You’re Rachel-sexual,” Max suggested, hoping Chloe would laugh. She didn’t.

“They tell you to try and picture your future, and imagine what gender your spouse is, the only problem is, I don’t know,  I can’t see a clear future anymore. I can't picture myself old and gray with anyone. ” Chloe said, with a small sad smile.

Max realized then that Chloe's life was always going to be a before and after. Before Rachel and after her.

Max started to hate herself for being angry, Chloe had lost what was very possibly her soulmate. Max should be more understanding but she only felt…envy?

Max took a deep breath and tried to collect herself to continue conversation.

“I don’t know about you Max, but I think I’m feeling some kind of fast food.”

“So you don’t think you’ll ever fall in love again?” Max said, ignoring Chloe’s topic change.

“No. I don’t know. I just know that  I’m not in a good place to let new people in." 

"I see," Max said.  "And yeah, fast food sounds fine to me." 

"Sweet, I'll take the next exit," 

The girls drove through a random burger place and then Chloe parked in the restaurant's lot, facing the lights of the highway. 

"So what about you, Max?" Chloe asked, taking a bite out of her food. "Have you ever done the deed?" 

Max about did a spit take. "What?" 

"Have you had sex yet Caulfield?" 

"No, I haven't," Max said, blushing.

"Oh come on Max, you can't expect me not to flip the script on you."

"It's just, I've never even been in love. Or close to it. I've kissed two people and that's including you and the other one was with a guy who basically did the sucker punch equivalent of kissing; it was happening before I even saw it coming."

"Oh well, that's gross," Chloe said, making a face.

"Yeah it was bad," Max said, wincing at the memory. 

"But so then that means I'm the best person you've ever kissed." 

"Oh, by far," Max said laughing. 

"You weren't too bad yourself Max," 

"Shut up, that kiss was like half a second long before you backed away. Clearly I did something wrong."

"No, no, I was just surprised."

"Okay," Max said, still not quite believing. 

 

Chloe silently wished for a do-over, telling herself that if she ever got the chance again, she wouldn't back away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I wrote this entire thing then accidentally deleted it lmao. so it took forever for me to feel like re writing it and then when I did decide to re write it, I decided I hated what I had written so I started from scratch. but anyway! here's chapter 15


	16. Are You Ten Years Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 16  
> Are You Ten Years Ago by Tegan and Sara (PVRIS cover) for Chloe  
> Black Sheep by Metric for Max

Max and Chloe finished the rest of their food in silence, seeming to have their own trains of thought.

 _It’s so nice to just be able to share silence with someone,_ Max thought peacefully. 

Meanwhile, Chloe was working on a ten year problem: Her feelings for Max Caulfield.

Feelings get twisted so much when you're a little queer kid and don't even know it yet. Before Max left, Chloe didn't know what she was feeling was something more. She couldn't have told Max she had feelings for her then simply because she did not have the words. Once she gained the words, it all just became foreshadowing. Only it wasn't the kind you can look at directly, because it would have just made it so much worse. Your best friend ignores you for years is one level but if you add that your thirteen year old self was in love with that best friend? Well then you're just fucked. And somewhere Chloe knew that. So cue the ignoring of past feelings. Ignore it with boys, ignore it with drugs, alcohol, and then later one Rachel Amber. But it was getting harder to ignore. 

 _You cannot have feelings for her, you cannot have feelings for her, you cannot have feelings for her. You do not have feelings for her, you do not have feelings for her, you do not have feelings for you, you do not have feelings for her_ Chloe repeated in her head. Chloe came at it from every angle until she could shut herself up. _She’s probably not even into girls. I'm just confusing friendship with more. I'm trying to replace Rachel, Max has always just been my friend. My best friend. What the fuck is wrong with me that I can’t just be satisfied with that? Max is worth more than to be subject to my bullshit. Max would never fall for a drug addict drop out with no future. Max would never fall for someone like me._

The last part wasn’t even necessarily true, but it hurt to think it, which is why she did. Chloe would be damned if she allowed herself to look at Max with the same simplifying eyes Warren did, like she was something up for consumption or like she was potential victim to persuasion. 

So Chloe stared straight ahead and avoiding looking at Max altogether.

“So you said no to mini golf, no to laser tag,” Max said a moment later. 

“And you vetoed a bar,” Chloe added, still staring out the window.

“So where does that leave us?” Max asked.

“We could go to a karaoke bar,” Chloe suggested.

“Why would you wanna go to a karaoke bar?” Max asked, confused. 

“So we can laugh at all the people who think they can sing.” 

“Chloe! That is so mean,” Max laughed.

“Hey, it would be entertaining at the very least.”

"True," Max said. 

"Plus, I'm not hearing better suggestions, let alone any."

"Okay, I'm down. But no laughing. At least not while we're still in the building." 

"I'll try my hardest." Chloe pulled out her phone then quickly started looking up places nearby.

“Cat’s Tale,” Chloe said. “Karaoke, every night from 9-12.”  

“How far away is it?”

“About thirty minutes,”  Chloe said, starting the car again.

“Towards Arcadia Bay or away from?” Max asked.

“Away, but we’ll still have plenty of time to get back as long as we leave by 12,” Chloe said.

“I hope so,” Max said.

Chloe was silent for a couple of seconds before saying, “If you want me to go out tonight, after we get home, I mean, I’ll go alone,” Chloe said quietly.

Max turned towards Chloe and frowned. “Are you fucking kidding me? Hell no. We’re in this together. Do you seriously think I’d wimp out like that?”

“No, but I seriously know that you wouldn’t have done any of that shit on your own. I brought you into this.”

“Maybe you’re the one who proposed taking the plaques down, but you didn’t make Jefferson kidnap me.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. But I just wanted you to know there was an out if you felt like you needed one.”

“I’m not leaving the dirty work to you, Chloe,” Max said, firmly.

“Good to hear,” Chloe said, smiling.

. . .

About a half hour later, Chloe and Max arrived at the club. It wasn't anything special but Chloe had definitely spent time in uglier places. The ceiling had those colored christmas lights and the walls were covered in posters. Some were for things Chloe and Max recognized, like bands or festivals but something of them seemed so obscure they had to question if the thing the poster was advertising was even real or just an art project. 

“Hey, I’m gonna use the restroom, will you get us some drinks?” Max asked.

“Sure thing,” Chloe said, turning back towards the bar.

In the bathroom, Max was startled by her own appearance. The intense makeup was starting to smudge a little but was holding up decently overall. Wearing this much makeup made Max feel like a different person, but in a good way.  

_Maybe this is why Chloe likes to always look so intimidating.  It's more of an armor than I ever could have imagined._

When she got back onto the main floor, Chloe still wasn't back from the bar. While looking for her, a clipboard across the room caught her attention. 

... 

At the bar, Chloe ordered two cokes and a shot of tequila for herself (with the help of her fake courtesy of Frank), took the shot and then scored them a table on the upper level with a good view of the stage.

“Hey, I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I just got us soda,” Chloe said, as Max walked up. 

“Soda’s good,” Max said, trying to keep from smiling. She didn’t want Chloe to catch on before it was time.

Eventually people started going on stage. Max’s favorite, by far, was the guy who half screamed, half sang Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know with everything he had. 

It was getting close to time for them to leave when they finally called their names.

“Alright, up next we’ve got a duet! Please welcome, Chloe and Max to sing Black Sheep by Metric!”

Max stood up immediately and took Chloe’s hand and started dragging her towards stage.

“Max what the hell?” Chloe asked, resisting.

“What? You know this song, right?”

“Yeah, I know it, but I don’t sing,”

“Neither do I,” Max said, yanking some more.

“Max,” Chloe said.

“Please, it’ll be fun,” Max said, putting on her begging face.

Chloe clenched her jaw then and marched to the stage.

The DJ guy handed them both a microphone and then started the music.

The karaoke machine designated Singer 1and Singer 2 along with the lyrics. Thankfully for Chloe, Max started as Singer 1

“ ‘Hello again, friend of a friend…’,” Max started. Her voice was soft and sweet, but she was trying to give it the intensity that the song usually came with.  

Chloe tried to brace herself for the chorus, which had been designated to her. Chloe wasn't usually the type to be afraid of what strangers had to thing, but for some reason singing in front of about 60 people made her a little bit more than on edge. 

“ ‘Send you my love, on a wire, lift you up every time,” Chloe sang. Her voice was shaky but not even close to the worst of the night.  

Off to the side, Max was jumping around and dancing, so much so that when her turn to sing came back around she was a little breathless.

“Got balls of steel, got an automobile for a minimum wage,” Max laughed. Chloe was starting to loosen up. She smiled at Max, who seemed to be having the time of her life.

 _Her smile could melt every icy bit of me away. I don't think she knows it though. Lucky me,_ Chloe thought. 

As they exited the stage, Chloe couldn't help but smile. 

"Was that to take your minds off things?" Chloe asked, as they were walking back out to the car. 

"Mostly. I also just wanted to mess with you," Max said, laughing. 

"Oh, that's a dangerous game to start," Chloe said. 

"Your move, Price," Max said, challenging.  

 _Kiss her,_ Chloe thought.  _ **No,** **don't.**_

"Something wrong?" Max asked. 

Chloe wiped what must have been a dumb look off of her face and said, "Oh, nothing. I'm just plotting my revenge. As usual."

"Figures," Max said, hopping in the truck.

"Yeah," Chloe said to herself, shaking her head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah sorry this is so short. the next one will be longer. also, if you're interested, ashly burch sang Black sheep with someone called professor shyguy? idk his deal but their cover is awesome, particularly the live one. I first saw it back in like February and have been kind of planning this chapter since then. 
> 
> also it's four thirty am as I'm uploading this and I'm feeling kind of emotional from lack of sleep so I just want to say thank you for sharing this space with me while i re imagine some fictional characters who mean a fucking lot to me. we're getting closer to the end of this re imaging, so if anyone is curious, I'm thinking maybe 5-8 more chapters, 8 being the max (lol) and then maybe an epilogue that jumps a year into the future.


	17. One Intimacy for Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 17  
> idfc by blackbear for Chloe  
> Untouchable by Luna Halo for Max

“So how do we wanna go about this?”

Max and Chloe were standing in front of all the plaques, which had just been dumped onto a blanket on the floor of Chloe’s room.

“Well, I think we should wipe prints,” Max said. “Do you have any gloves?”

“Joyce might have some for like, cleaning or something. I’ll go look,” Chloe said, turning to the door.

“Be quiet,” Max reminded. It was about half past one. 

“Got it,” Chloe said, leaving.

A few minutes later she came back with two pairs of rubber gloves, the kind Max’s mom used while doing the dishes.

“Do you want hot pink or blue with daisies?" Chloe asked, annoyed at the style selection. 

“Pink, I guess,” Max said, taking the gloves from Chloe.

“So would tissues work to smear any prints?”

“Yeah probably. This is good practice for when we actually kill someone,” Max said, morbidly, putting the gloves on.

Chloe laughed and grabbed the box of tissues from her desk. “Pricefield, your friendly neighborhood assassins.”

“Assassins’ probably make so much money,” Max said longingly. She took a seat on the floor and started wiping down the plaques.

“So can photographers, I bet. If they’re as good as you,” Chloe said, joining Max on the floor.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Max said, drifting off.

They both worked silently for a couple of minutes before Max broke the silence by saying, “It’s just, I don’t want to be like, some wedding photographer. I wanted my shots to be in museums, but now the thought of that is terrifying to me. I still get the itch to take pictures but, it’s like, the thought of ever submitting anything ever again makes my chest tighten up and it feels like I can’t breathe again.”

“Shit, Max,” Chloe said. “Where is this coming from?”

“Do you remember when my parents were here and they were talking about me not knowing what kind of future I’d have in Seattle?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s just weird. Like I know neither of us is going to live with Joyce the rest of our lives but I don’t know a lot beyond that.”

“Yeah thinking about the future can be a real mindfuck,” Chloe said, unemotional.

“You seem so relaxed about it,” Max observed.

“I don’t know. Being used to not knowing wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to get good at, but here I am. I mean, at least you had photography. I've never had a calling, or whatever." 

"It's very rare to know exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life at 19," Mas said softly.

"And yet the world wants me to know. I should be in college right now," Chloe said, shaking her head. 

"Hey, we can study for the GED together," Max said. 

"Yeah, what a load of fun that will be." 

"I mean, at least we know one thing for sure."

“What’s that?” Chloe asked. 

“You and me. Together," Max said. "We're not separating again," She added.  

Chloe laughed. “Sounds a little co dependent, but sure.”

Max playfully elbowed Chloe in the ribs. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do," Chloe said. Saying that almost felt like a lie, because along with getting good at rolling with the punches per say,  she's also learned not to hold onto people too tightly and they're just the kind of thing that are hard to unlearn. 

They finished the last of the plaques in a comfortable silence. Chloe too wrapped up in not getting in the car with her thoughts and Max too focused on wiping every square inch of every plaque. 

“What if, like, one of our hairs is on them or the blanket?” Max asked.

“I don’t know. It might not be that deep.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, how hard are they actually trying to find us?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know. I just know I don’t want them to.”

“If we carried them in a trash bag, would you feel better?”

Max thought for a moment before saying, “Yeah I would actually.”

“Be right back,” Chloe said, dashing down stairs.

 _Max you have truly seen too many crime shows,_ Max thought.

Max turned towards Chloe’s mirror and took a look at herself.

_Jesus, I’m kind of a mess right now_

Max’s bangs were beginning to brush her eyelashes in an irritating way and her makeup as it was starting to lose its charm since she had accidentally rubbed her eyes a couple times.

She walked across the hall to the bathroom to wash the makeup off and borrow a couple of bobby pins from Joyce.

Max was able to take a deep breath one her face was clean and her bangs were pinned on top of her head. 

She walked back into Chloe’s room to find Chloe gently placing all of the plaques into a garbage bag.

Chloe looked up when Max came back in the room, “Oh my god,” Chloe said.

“What?” Max asked.

“Max’s forehead? I haven’t see you in so long!” Chloe exclaimed, reaching out to touch Max’s forehead.

“Fuck off,” Max laughed, swatting away Chloe’s hand.

“I’m serious,” Chloe said. “When did you decide to get bangs?”

“Like, last year, I think.”

 “I don’t hate it, you just look like, like you did before. Which is kinda weird.”

“They just need to be trimmed, they were getting annoying,” Max explained.

“Oh Joyce could do that. Or I could.”

“Noted. Thanks,” Max said.

“I think we are ready to go,” Chloe said, looking around for anything she had forgotten. “Let’s hit it.”

They climbed out of Chloe’s room carefully and drove slowly out of the neighborhood.

“You know, despite the anxiety of getting caught, I have to admit, there is kind of a nice rush,” Max said.

Chloe laughed. “Don’t go becoming an adrenaline junkie on me now.”

“I’m not. I’m just saying, the next time we have to do something illegal, I’m gonna remember that there is an upside.”

“Are we planning on doing more illegal things?” Chloe asked, mock shocked.

“I don’t know. Depends if any else crosses us,” Max joked.

Chloe started laughing uncontrollably.  The idea of Max deciding someone had crossed her and deserved punishment was hilarious.

“Well let’s hope that doesn’t ever happen,” Chloe said.

When they got to junkyard, they walked to approximately where they found Rachel, it was decided that Chloe would dig the hole while Max kept look out, and then visa versa for burying them.  

Chloe took a rusted shovel she had located and started digging. 

“Do you think that’s big enough?” Chloe said, breathless after a couple of minutes.

Max turned around. “I don’t know. We might want to make it deeper than necessary. Just in case someone else goes digging. We don’t want them to hit gold immediately.”

Chloe let the shovel drop so she could take her jacket off.

“This whole digging thing is not as easy as it looks,” Chloe said, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Remember that when you kill someone and expect me to help you bury the body.”

The ground was hard and cold, but nevertheless, Chloe persisted.

About five minutes later, there was a hole in the ground that could probably fit a body. Chloe took the trash bag then and emptied it into the ground.

Max took the shovel from Chloe and started scooping up dirty to throw in.

“Wait,” Chloe said. She reached down and grabbed one of the plaques out, the one for Two Whales. “Souvenir, eh?”

“Chloe,” Max protested.

“Hey, seventeen of these things is hard to hide, but this. One is easy,” She said, tucking into the back of her pants.

Max chewed the inside her cheek. “Do you see the one from Blackwell?” She asked, hesitantly.

Chloe moved the flashlight around, looking. “Ah ha!” She grabbed it and showed it to Max.

“Will you hold on to it for me, while I bury these?” Max asked.

“Sure,” Chloe said, turning the flashlight off.  

It took Max half the time it took Chloe, but she was still worn out by the end of it. 

“Ready to book?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

They walked quickly to the truck.

“Well, I guess that closes the book on that part of our story,” Chloe said, starting the car.

“Hopefully,” Max said.

“Yeah, hopefully.”

It was about three in the morning when they got back, but Chloe insisted she needed to take a shower before bed due to how sweaty she had gotten.

“Just chill out here, or even go to sleep. You don’t have to wait up for me,” Chloe said, dropping the two remaining plaques on the bed.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll wait up.”

“See you in a minute,” Chloe said, grabbing her towel and headed for the bathroom.

As soon as Chloe was gone, Max started crying. It wasn’t that she was sad, she was just emotional in general. Overwhelmed, would be the word. She never wanted to cry in front of Chloe, just out of fear that it would upset her or worry her.

Chloe was always like that, she wanted to fix everything. Somethings just couldn’t be fixed. And she might know this now, that some things just need time but Max was willing to bet that it still stressed her out to see her loved ones in distress.

It felt good to cry, but she didn’t want to stop. She also wasn’t happy to be alone, even though she knew that’s how it needed to be.  

Max took several deep breaths and wiped her face clean and changed into her pajamas.  Max heard the shower turn off so she turned the overhead light off and switched on the rainbow lights, so that maybe Chloe wouldn’t be able to tell she had just been crying.

Chloe knocked slightly before opening the door.

“Come in,” Max said, quietly.

“Heyo,” Chloe said. Max walked up to Chloe and pulled her into a hug.

“Hey,” Max said, stilling holding on.

Chloe let go but when she felt that Max was still holding on, she very gently put her hands back.  

“What’s this for?” Chloe asked, laughing nervously.

“Do I need a reason?” Max asked, pulling back so she could look Chloe in the eyes but still keeping her at arm’s length.

“Uh, no, I guess not."

“Sorry,” Max said, letting go the rest of the way and letting her eyes fall to the floor.  

Chloe hesitated a second and then responded by pulling Max back into a tighter hug than before and making a point of showing off her strength.

“Ah!” Max laughed. “Can’t breathe.”

Chloe laughed and let her go.

“I’m not really too tired,” Chloe said.

“You would always say that,” Max said,  smiling. “And then twenty minutes later, you’d pass out after starting the movie.”

“Hey, that’s not fair. I’ve grown out of those ways.” 

“Okay,” Max said, trying to keep from laughing.

“I mean, if you’re tired, we can go to sleep,” Chloe said.

“No. I think I’m too wired to sleep right now. Maybe we could watch something.”

"I'm into that, will you stash these somewhere for now?" Chloe asked, nodding towards the plaques that rested on the bed. 

"Yeah, top of the closet work?"

"Sure," Chloe said, walking towards her desk to get her laptop. 

Max walked over to the closet and got on her tippy toes to try stuff the plaques on top of some boxes. 

"Oh, shit," Max said, as a couple of notebooks fell to floor. 

Chloe rushed over but not before Max could pick up one that fallen open. 

"Holy shit," Max said, flipping through the pages quickly. 

Inside were what must have been hundreds of drawings. They were intricate and vibrant and Max was overwhelmed. How many times in your life are you presented with so much art at one time your mind can't physically comprehend it? 

Max paused on one of a woman's naked back. It had what looked like werewolf scratches down the back, blood dripping down the woman's sides and revealing the Seattle skyline underneath her skin. 

"Is this me?" Max asked quietly. The girl also had a brown ponytail swept to the side. 

Chloe felt her entire face and chest start to burn red. "Something like that," She mumbled.

Max turned the page again, slower this time, so that Chloe would have a chance to stop her if she wanted to but she said nothing. 

The next was less detailed but had the words I WAKE UP AND I'M IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN in giant writing, with delicate lines and stripes on the inside. It reminded Max of those magic eye games where you unfocus your vision and suddenly something hidden appears.

Max shut the notebook then and said, "Chloe, those were beautiful. I don't know what to say."  

"You don't have to say anything," Chloe said awkwardly, bending down and picking up the other books.   

"When did you start drawing like this?"

"After you left, I guess. I started journaling and eventually the doodles took over and there wasn't space for the words anymore." 

"When did you stop?"

"About when you got back into town."

"Why?" Max asked, looking down at a tree branch where the maple leaves were filled in with giant swirls that looked exactly like finger prints. 

Chloe laughed softly. "We were busy." 

"Chloe, you should be an artist," Max said, looking through more pages. 

"Too pretentious.  And too subjective. Too many assholes wanting to compare me to others, trying to find out what it means. All I've ever wanted was to a place to express myself and maybe I happened to get decent at it along the way."

"So you'd never try to draw on a larger scale?" Max asked. 

"Nah," Chloe said, taking the notebook from Max and picking up the notebooks and putting them back into the closet.

"Am I first person to see those?" Max asked. 

"I mean, I guess step shit probably saw me drawing them on his spy equipment but you're the first person I'm actually okay with seeing them."

"I didn't mean to pry or grab at them," Max said, covering her face with her hands. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

"It's chill. I know you're a snoop," Chloe smiled. 

"They were just so gorgeous and there's so many..." Max trailed off. 

"If you want we could look at them later," Chloe said. 

"No, no, I don't want you to feel like you have to share."

Chloe was quiet for a moment before saying, "When was the last time you took a photo without the added pressure of knowing no one else would see it?"

Max thought for a second. "I don't think I ever have."

"It's a nice feeling. Hey, maybe that's how you get back into photography. Don't show anyone anything you take for a while. It's more freeing than you think."

"But it's nice to share it with people. Especially the people closest to you." 

"I know, which is why I'm saying we could look at them some more later. If you wanted." 

"I do. Thanks," Max said, looking away suddenly. There's a kind of intimacy in discussing your art, in your pajamas, in a poorly lit room at three am and it was getting to be a bit too intense for Max. So she made a trade. 

"Do you wanna go watch Blade Runner or something?" She asked. 

"Yeah, totally," Chloe said. She seemed to be on the same page, for which Max was grateful. She didn't want Chloe to feel like she was pulling away from seriousness so when they got into bed, Max rested her head on Chloe's shoulder while they watched the movie. One intimacy for another. 

 _This is something friends do right?_ That thought made Max's mind spin so she decided she didn't have the room to care. It felt right and that was all that mattered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i've been really into Chloe's journal in BTS and some of the drawings were just so cool, they inspired that last bit of this chapter. let me know what you guys think :) if you have any ideas about how Chloe and Max are gonna end up/ what careers they're gonna have, i'd love to hear them. at this point i know where they're going to end up in this story, but it took me a long fucking time to settle on one path. 
> 
> also this chapter doesnt have a title! i'm uploading at 2:30 am! i'll figure it out later!


	18. Wildest Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soundtrack for chapter 18  
> Mother and Father by Broods for Max  
> Ease by Troye Sivan for Chloe

_What are you supposed to do when the one thing you loved the most is now your biggest trigger?_

Max woke up that morning alone in Chloe’s bed, slick with sweat and full of panic. She sat up fast and the first thing her eyes focused on was her camera.  It was resting on Chloe’s dresser and was beginning to collect dust. Max looked away almost instinctually, before that gut feeling of guilt and dread could fully set in.  Max left Chloe's room quickly, not wanting to even be alone with it. 

About a week had passed since they finally buried the plaques and Chloe had taken to getting up a couple hours before Max and meditating in the living room. She hadn’t decided yet whether or not she wanted to go back on medication, so for the time being Chloe was medicating with meditation, weed, exercise and drawing. She wanted to add kickboxing classes or something to help with the pent up aggression, but it wasn't in the budget at the moment. 

“You’re really leaning into this whole hippie thing aren’t you?” Max asked, upon seeing Chloe and smelling the incense that was burning.

Chloe opened her eyes and laughed, “You would know," 

Max sat down next to Chloe on the couch. “Can I ask you something?”

Chloe’s heart picked up slightly. “Yeah go for it,” She said.

“Have you ever been physically repulsed from looking at something?”

“All the time,” Chloe said, staring off into the distance, thinking about the images she'd like to remove her mind and the world all together. “This about your camera still?” Max had not yet taken Chloe's advice to go out and just take some pictures without ever showing anyone them. Chloe was trying not to take it personally. 

“It’s not technically mine,” Max said, looking at her hands.

“Oh, please. It was a gift. That counts.”

“Whatever you say,” Max said, leaning into Chloe and letting her head fall onto Chloe's shoulder.

Now Chloe felt frozen in place. She was afraid to even drum her fingers on her leg, which was her go to move when she was uncomfortable.

Chloe remembered the days when this wasn’t foreign.  Chloe and Max would hold up in Max’s basement, the land of pillow forts and movie marathons, and at the end of the night, Max would end up draped around Chloe, in one way or another, and it was weirdly fine. No one really thought twice about it.

The girls would stay up talking about the boys at school but it was still Chloe who got to hold Max’s hand, because it was all innocent. It didn’t mean anything then and Chloe was trying to convince herself it didn’t mean anything now.

But these days, if Chloe tried to hold hands with Max in public, god who knows what would happen or what people would think. The thought of that almost sent shivers down Chloe’s spine. Or if Joyce and David walked in right now, Chloe hoped that Max would move so they wouldn't think anything. Or worse, Max wouldn't move and they would actually think nothing of it. She wasn't sure which one was worse. 

“So do you wanna watch TV or something?” Max asked.

“Sure,” Chloe said, bracing herself for the disappointment like feeling she would get once Max was no longer close.

Max got up from the couch to grab the remote and then sat back down next to Chloe.

“Jesus christ, who is that?” Max asked, upon turning the TV on. 

“Ruby Rose?” Chloe asked. The TV was turned to a random daytime talk show.

“Yeah, with the tats?” Max asked.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, confused.

“She is so gorgeous,” Mas said, in amazement. 

_Okay, so that means nothing. All the straight girls would go gay for Ruby Rose._

That thought reminded Chloe of something Rachel said at the beginning of their relationship.

_“Chloe Price can make the straight girls gay for a weekend”_

It was a riff on a Taylor Swift song, which Rachel loved. At the time it made them both laugh but Chloe felt weird about it in secret. It would probably be fun to have someone for just a weekend, but Chloe wanted more. Always more.  

_Why I am assuming Max’s sexuality?  Chick's from Seattle. I bet it’s queer as hell there. Unlike this shit hole.  Me and Steph, along with the other six queer girls in town have been running this place for a while.  It would probably be strange to move to LA or New York, there'd be way more competition to be the hottest girl looking for a gal pal._

The truth was, Chloe was just trying to distract herself. The thought of Max being bi or pan or anything that would let her fall in love with Chloe was a familiar feeling. It’s the kind of hope that feels like being able to breath for the first time in a while but then ends in unparalleled pain.

But the scary part was that, she didn’t know for sure it wasn't going to end that. That's just what Chloe was used to.  Hope fades and gets replaced with the truth.

_New Mission for Chloe Price: Determine Maxine Caulfield’s sexual orientation, without making a complete, absolute mess of things._

“Don’t you think she’s pretty?” Max asked, after a couple seconds of Chloe not saying anything.

“Oh yeah she’s super hot, not really my type though.”

Max laughed. “What? Why not? What’s wrong with her?”

“Too many tattoos.”

“Oh my god, that’s such bull,” Max laughed.

“I don’t know, it might be the accent,” Chloe said. This was all nonsense, Chloe was in love with Ruby Rose, but she was hoping that by faking disinterest, Max would feel more compelled to explain why she called her gorgeous. Not that she was jealous or anything. 

“Really?” Max asked, surprised.

Chloe shrugged, “Attraction is a funny thing,”

“I guess so,” Max said.

Chloe chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before asking, awkwardly, “I mean why do you think she’s hot?”

Max felt her face start to get hot, “Look at her, Chlo, she should be a model."

That didn’t get Chloe any closer to what she wanted so she got frustrated, and as usual when Chloe was frustrated, she got rougher around the edges.

“Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t mind waking up next to her one morning after a bad night and one too many drinks.”

“God, Chloe, we don’t have to objectify her,” Max laughed.

“I have good intentions,” Chloe said, defending herself. _What would an innocent best friend say here? Ah got it_ “Are you trying to say you wouldn’t sleep with her?” Chloe asked, smirking.

Max rolled her eyes. “Maybe if she bought me dinner first,” Max said sarcastically.

Chloe laid off. It really wasn't any of her business, but it was still weird not knowing. If you had asked her a month ago, she would have said Max was as straight as an arrow, no question,  but now she wasn't so sure. She couldn't tell if it was just the hope talking or if there was actual reason to believe differently.   
  
_What would you do if you did know?_ Chloe asked herself.  _Probably nothing so it'd be best to drop it._ _No, but seriously, what?_

Chloe would flirt like there was no tomorrow. She'd get Max flowers and do all the other romantic shit she hadn't gotten a chance to with Rachel. 

_I'd be smooth and carefree, if only I knew I wasn't going to get slapped in the face with a 'oh but i'm straight though'._

She turned towards Max and looked her over.   _I could see us together. In my wildest fucking dreams._

The show to a commercial break, so Chloe decided to try again. 

"So Max," Chloe started.

"Yeah?" Max asked. 

"Do you wanna know how I came out?" They had spent the majority of this week catching each other up on various random shit they had never told each other, as stories popped into their heads. Usually one story triggered another  and so on but surprisingly this was one thing that hadn't come up.

"Yeah I mean sure if you wanna share, I'd love to listen." Max said. 

"So I never told her I was with Rachel or anything. Rachel didn't think we should tell people. But that wasn't going to stop me from telling Joyce about myself. And I guess David.  I screamed it during a fight with David," Chloe laughed gently, like it was a fond memory of the good old days. 

"Wait so was he like 'Chloe you need to be more responsible!' and then were you just like, 'I'M GAY I DON'T NEED RESPONSIBILITY'?" Max asked, laughing.  

Chloe started laughing. "No, it was something directed at Joyce about how she didn't know me and she shouldn't get to make decisions about someone she knew nothing about. And then she was like, oh yeah what the hell don't I know? And you can guess where it went from there." 

"What did she say afterwards?" Max asked. 

"She didn't really get a chance to say anything. I stormed out. Joyce blew my phone up asking me to come home, telling me she wanted to talk. I went home eventually, but when I did, I told her I was ready to talk. But by that time she had changed her mind. She was, once again, disappointed by how I treated David." 

"God, Chloe, that's such bullshit," Max said. "I'm sure if you went to her now and genuinely asked her to talk with you, she would." 

"Yeah maybe one day we'll have a real conversation. Once I actually have a girlfriend." 

"That's so weird," Max said, frowning. 

"What?" 

"You having a girlfriend."

"Okay wow, homophobic much?" Chloe asked, sarcastically, laughing. 

"No, no! I just can't imagine life any different than it is right now. Like, I can't see me dating anyone either." 

Chloe elbowed Max in the ribs. "Yeah, I know what you mean."  

"Besides, you know I've always been the jealous type," Max said, remembering the way she felt when Chloe would have other friends over for her birthday parties. As dumb as it was, Max felt like Chloe should have given her her full attention. Obviously now Max knows better, but the feelings are still sometimes there. 

"HA," Chloe laughed. "Yeah I remember, but you know I like clingy." 

"There's no one else I'd rather be codependent with," Max said, smiling wide. "God, it's gonna suck when you fall in love. We should find twins or something." 

"Max, you're always going to be my best friend," Chloe said, suddenly serious. 

"I don't think that's true," Max said thoughtfully. "People should be best friends with the person they marry."

 _Well then I guess we'll just have to get married_ was a response that came to mind. Chloe pushed it away instantly.  

"Oh hell no, nobody said anything about marriage," She said, ready to mimick sentiments Rachel was passionate about.

"Are you anti marriage or something?"

"Yeah kind of. Marriage is an unjust concept, and also kind of bullshit. Why should a piece of paper mark a significant part of my relationship? Matching tattoos would be more meaningful," Chloe scoffed. 

"I guess the only reason I'd want to get married is to have the privileges that come with it. But yeah, I agree, I don't think it would symbolize anything too big for me. You can make gigantic promises without ever going near a marriage licence."

"Yeah, and I don't even know if I want to love just one person forever. Or if I'm even capable of that."

Chloe remembered how it felt the first time she heard Rachel say those exact words; she felt her own face drop. Max's face just did something similar.

"Is that how you really feel?" Max asked. 

"What?" Chloe asked, confused. 

"Like, it's just me, Chloe. You don't have to act tough or loveless. Or too cool for monogamy, I guess," Max said, laughing a little at that last bit. "I mean, I know some people genuinely feel that way, but I want you to be honest with me. No matter what the truth is. If you hate humanity and barely believe in love, I want you to tell me that but if that's something you put on to match the overall aesthetic, then I wanna know that too."

Chloe was stunned for just a moment. Max saw right through her. "I don't know really," Chloe said, avoiding Max's eyes. "Maybe it would just take the right girl to change my mind. I will say though, if I had the choice, I don't think I would ever choose to fall in love again. Too much chance in that. Too much risk."  

"Maybe that's the point then, you don't really get a choice when falling in love with someone," Max said. 

"Yeah, maybe," Chloe replied. 

 _It didn't feel like a choice then and it definitely doesn't now,_ Chloe thought.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting at 3:30 am should be my trademark. my calling card. my over used excuse for typos and poorly written sentences.


End file.
